Lovely day!

It was such a lovely day today!  The ocean was flat and perfect for paddling.  I didn’t even have to wait for my first turtle since it was waiting for me just as I paddled out!  I stopped to sit on my board and the turtle just floated next to me, intermittently popping it’s head out to look at me.  Then it swam to the back of my board so I slowly turned my board around.  The turtle swam under me and surfaced on the other side and then dove down.  It was great paddling down to the boat ramp…..but half way down I noticed some VOG rolling in along with some lingering cane smoke.  Before I knew it, the skies got overcast and I could no longer see the island of Lanai!  I’ve never seen that happen so fast before.  Down at the boat ramp I was the only one there.  Almost immediately after arriving, my first two turtles surfaced to my right. so I casually paddled up between them.  Then three more turtles appeared and I was surrounded by five turtles!  I sat there, in the middle, just enjoying the experience!  Then I heard a voice say, “There you are with all your turtles!”  It was a paddling friend who had just come out from Kam III.  We chatted for a few minutes and drifted down past the boat lane, then she continued on to Keawakapu and I headed back where I had been sitting with the turtles.  Before I got back to that spot, I noticed two turtles floating to my left so I stopped to visit with them, but suddenly two more turtles appeared too and I was again surrounded!  Wow, surrounded twice in such a short amount of time!  The overcast made it a bit difficult to spot the turtles, but I saw one out farther so I paddled out to it.  I was just hanging out with the turtle when the ocean surface changed, so I knew the wind might be coming in.  I started to paddle back and when I was passing Kam II, I saw something very unusual.  The surface of the ocean looked like a patchwork quilt….with spots of glassy water and spots of ripples!  I can’t imagine what caused that effect, but it sure looked interesting!  The wind didn’t get any stronger so I continued to paddle past Kam I and then I turned back and headed for shore. The skies were still overcast but the ocean was calm so my swim was really nice.  It was like swimming in a giant swimming pool since the water was so clear!  The air temperature has been so comfortable and not hot at all.  While I was sitting on the beach, the light wind managed to blow the VOG and smoke out to sea, so then the sun came out.  It was still a lovely day despite the VOG and smoke.  Hopefully tomorrow will be nice too!!!!