Nice Sunday Sunset!

Finally…..yesterday started out without any wind!  It was a beautiful day on Maui and the conditions were really nice.  After the two days of south swell and wind that messed up the conditions had subsided, it was a welcome sight out there!  I got a later start than I wanted so I hurried to paddle down to the boat ramp.  Not a soul was there when I arrived, and unfortunately not even a turtle!  I waited and waited and I knew the pontoon tour boat would be roaring in at any minute, so the turtles needed to hurry it up.  Finally the first turtle appeared and I paddled over to it.  It was friendly so I was able to get some photos.  I only had a few shots left on the camera so I wanted to finish it off.  Out of the seven turtles that visited with me today, only three of them wanted to be photographed!  I was just enjoying a prolonged visit with the last turtle when the boat roared in.  I paddled back in nice conditions until I passed Kam II, and the wind came in, white caps and all!  It was work to get the rest of the way home….but it backed off just in time for my swim, which ended up being very nice.  The Sunday sunset was nice too!

Today’s conditions were off to a nice start too.  No wind and sunny skies prevailed.  I got another late start so I hurried down to the boat ramp. Then I ran into a paddling friend and she and I paddled to the boat ramp, but she didn’t feel very well and went back.  As I came into the boat ramp area, there were three women paddlers sitting right in my spot!  Uh oh….competition!  I paddled near them but stayed to the south of them.  One of them paddled over to me and asked if I’d seen any turtles.  I had just arrived so I told her no, not yet.  She told me they had only seen two so far.  Finally my first turtle surfaced!  I was able to paddle right up to it and it just hung out with me.  The other paddlers got bored and moved on, and I got to visit with two more turtles!  Before I knew it, the tour boat roared in and it had quite a few snorkelers on it.  The boat pulled up and anchored not far from where I was sitting and I heard one of the crew saying,”oh that lady is the mark for where the turtles are…..they are probably just below her and just watch for them to come up”.  I thought, oh great,  and when they jumped in they headed right for me! I paddled a bit farther away from them and two turtles surfaced.  I was sitting right in-between them!  Then one more big turtle surfaced right next to me and ended up being my buddy for the day.  I was surprised at how long it hung around me, swimming next to me, swimming under me and surfacing behind me!  The snorkelers didn’t want to go that far away from the boat, so I had the turtles all to myself!  I knew it was getting late, so I paddled back in the still perfect conditions.  It stayed so glassy all the way back!  By the time I swam, though, the wind came in and it was bumpy ride.  I hope it’s nice tomorrow too!