Waiting patiently!

It was a beautiful morning out on the water today!  The sun was shining and there was just a comfortable breeze blowing.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and when I got there, I was the only one there.  I paddled in and didn’t see any turtles around, so I sat down on my board to wait.  A few minutes later, I spotted my first turtle out in front of me.  I paddled to it and two more turtles surfaced so I was in the middle of a turtle triangle!  More turtles surfaced around me and I found myself in the middle of a few turtles!  A paddling friend showed up and we had quite a few turtles popping up by us too.  I had counted about fifteen turtles when the pontoon tour boat roared in and blasted us with lovely diesel fuel fumes.  We didn’t appreciate that!  My friend had to leave, but I stayed around for a little while, and got to enjoy three more turtles!  The conditions stayed nice paddling back, and all the way through my swim.  On my way back swimming, I ran across a turtle, so I turned around and swam over it.  Unfortunately it had a nasty tumor growing on the side of its head, covering up one of its eyes.  I swam with it for a little while, and then it swam up towards me and turned around to look at me!  I guess it only had one eye to see with and that was the only way it could see me.  Then it surfaced right in front of me!  I couldn’t resist patting the turtle’s shell…. then I said good-bye and swam back.  Every day is an adventure out in the ocean!