blustery day!

Yesterday I woke up later than I had intended…..and looked outside.  It looked like it was already windy and there was VOG in the air, so off to the gym we went to work out!  Today it looked sunnier out and it wasn’t windy, but when I got down to the beach, it was getting blustery!  It was a Kona wind which was not helping the VOG situation….but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday….although Kahoolawe, Molokini, and Lanai were not visible at all.  Even the West Maui mountains were almost invisible!  The VOG is not something we can do a thing about since we just happen to have an active volcano among us on the Big Island.  Hopefully the trade winds will return soon and blow it all out to sea!  Since it was already windy, I went out paddling knowing what I was getting into, but since I was there,  I wanted to paddle.  Not many people were out either, just a couple of other paddlers and a one man canoe.  I think the wind scared people away!  I wanted to paddle down to the boat ramp but given the wind situation, I doubted that would happen.  I paddled south into the wind for a while and through the white caps.  I ran into one big turtle when I first paddled out, which surprised me, but it hung around with me for a little while so I was happy about that!  There was some commotion out on the ocean too.  A lifeguard was on a jet ski and another one was on a board…..and then a yellow fire department helicopter came into the area and was going back and forth over me.  It seemed like they might be searching for something or someone, but I didn’t hear anything about it when I got back to the beach.  I paddled for about an hour and it was all paddling, with not much time for sitting and enjoying. I call days like this “skill building” days….because about the only thing you can do is use all your skills the whole time!  It’s all good.  During my swim I swam against the wind and then rode it back.  The water was all kicked up but at least the visibility was pretty good.  I only saw a few Humu Humu fish hanging around the reef, probably looking for food.  Despite the windy conditions and the VOG, the day was a beautiful Fall day on Maui.  Maybe the VOG will blow away tomorrow…..I can hope!