I long to see this scene!

I borrowed this photo and I just love it!  So far I have not seen any whales in close enough to take a photo like this, but hopefully it will happen soon.  This morning started out windy…..yes windy!  I really didn’t know how it was going to go but I was greeted by a friendly turtle just as I started to paddle!  Then I ran into a paddling friend and we saw another turtle hanging by the buoy.  Two turtles and I hadn’t even left Kam I yet!  We paddled together down to the boat ramp, but just as we were passing Kam III, two turtles surfaced and I was in between them.  One of them was closer to my friend and the other one was closer to me, so we both stopped to enjoy the turtles!  Wow, four turtles and we hadn’t even arrived at the boat ramp yet!  About the time we did arrive there, the wind backed off and it got really nice.  The turtles, however, made us wait!  I was starting to wonder if they were coming at all, but then they started to surface….a lot of them!  At one point I was sitting happily in a turtle triangle and my friend yelled that I was surrounded.  Then a very friendly turtle popped up and hung around my board for a while, then it swam very slowly right by my side, so I laid back on my board and put my arm in the water.  The turtle slipped right by me, rubbing up against my arm as it passed to the back of my board!  My friend had brought a camera and she was taking photos of the turtles, and some of them were really posing!  After I had counted about eighteen turtles, we started to paddle back and the conditions were perfect.  My friend headed in while I headed out looking for whales.  The water was so calm but no whales for today.  It was one of those super nice days that makes you want to just stay out on the water!  I came in though, because I really wanted to swim.  The water is so clear right now and I wanted to hang around down at the reef.  I was just about down to the reef when I spotted a turtle swimming in my direction, so I turned around.  Soon it swam right under me and I started swimming with it!  I swam with it for a while and then it started to surface right in front of me.  I couldn’t help myself……when it got that close to me, I gave it a rub on its shell!  The turtle just floated there next to me as if it was enjoying the attention, then it floated next to me and was looking right at me.  Then I just put my arm around its shell and we swam together!  I couldn’t believe it.  After awhile, the turtle headed slowly out to sea, so I said good-bye.  I turned around to swim towards the reef and a school of six large Ulua fish swam past me!  Then they turned around and came back!  They were playing with each other and chasing each other!  Then a school of about a dozen other silver fish swam past me so I followed them.  They turned around and swam back towards me and the large Ulua fish came back too….so there I was, just hanging with a bunch of fish right out in front of the lifeguard tower!  I never made it to the reef!  There was too much happening right where I was.  It was quite a day!