Eight turtles!

This morning started out windy and stormy and the ocean was rocking and rolling!  The beach was practically empty and hardly anyone was out on the water.  I think people were concerned that a storm was coming in,  but I paddled all alone down to the boat ramp!  The stormy clouds overhead had the water looking very dark and it was hard to see underneath the water….but a turtle greeted me as I paddled out!  The wind was at my back on the way down to the boat ramp and the swells made for some interesting paddling.  At the boat ramp I was all alone except for a couple of snorkelers.  I kept watch on the  stormy skies and hoped the turtles would come up quickly, but they made me wait.  After four turtles surfaced, I realized the wind was not backing off and decided to head back.  As I passed Kam III, two more turtles popped up in front of me as if they were trying to talk me into staying longer!  Well of course I stopped to visit with them, but I thought it best to keep heading back.  Just as I headed past Kam II, I ran into a paddling friend.  We chatted briefly and both moved on.  I wanted to get my swim in as soon as possible in case it started to storm.  I headed down to the reef, but the water wasn’t very clear down there so I turned around.  A few minutes later, a turtle swam under me so I turned around a swam with it for a while!  I was happy to see a turtle while swimming, especially since I couldn’t see anything at the reef today.  On my way back, the wind backed off and it got very nice……. a lot nicer than earlier!  It looked very stormy out by Kahoolawe and Molokini and it even rained a few drops at the beach, but then the sun broke through and it got really nice.  Not bad for the end of December!!