View of beach from out on my board!

The first thing I did this morning after I got up, was take a look out the window to see if it was windy.  As luck would have it, there was no sign of wind.  By the time I got down to the beach, only a slight breeze was blowing from the south, and it was still very nice.  I wondered about the wind, how could I not?  It’s been so unpredictable lately.  Conditions were good so I took a chance and paddled down to the boat ramp.  I had the place to myself so I hoped the turtles would come up.  I sat for a few minutes and then I spotted my first turtle lounging on the surface of the water!  I paddled over to it and two more turtles appeared and made a triangle with me in the middle!  Then I saw another turtle more north, so I paddled over to it.  When I got to it, I noticed it had a bunch of tumors all over it, the worst one being a large one on the side of its mouth which seemed to be preventing the turtle from fully opening its mouth.  It also had some moss or sea weed growing on its shell, which made me wonder if it was just not moving around like the other turtles.  It really upset me every time it came up for air because it made this gasping sound that was impossible to ignore…..I really didn’t like hearing that distressful sound!  I knew that the turtle wouldn’t last long if it was weak and unable to eat or get enough air.  Sometimes the reality of that is not fun at all.  In all, I counted about nine turtles today, with the sick one surfacing a couple of times gasping for air.  I was happy to be able to paddle in nice conditions down to the boat ramp, but I wasn’t happy to listen to the turtle.  Luckily the rest of the turtles I visited with looked very healthy, so that did make me feel better.  The wind still had not come in and a paddling friend showed up at the boat ramp.  We chatted for a while and then she announced that there were threatening white caps in view.  The last time I didn’t listen to her, I got caught in the crazy wind, so this time I followed her advice and headed back.  Just as I left her at Kam II, the wind and white caps blew in!  It was work just to get to shore from there….but at least I wasn’t farther away when it happened.  By the time I went for my swim, the wind had backed off and I got good conditions on my way down, but the wind blew in again and it was a rough water swim on the way back!  This time the wind meant business and it’s still very windy now.  I’ll be glad when more normal wind conditions prevail…..really glad!