Here come the turtles!

Well….. today’s conditions were a “mixed bag”…… the day started out with Kona winds blowing from the south, so I paddled against the wind all the way down to the boat ramp.  There had also been a cane burn, so the smoke plume was rising into the air, but the south wind was holding the smoke back and it was just rising up instead of blowing southward.  It was a shame since the wind had been working on blowing the VOG out to sea and now there was also smoke in the air.  By the time I passed Kam III, two turtles popped up to greet me!  Then when I got down to the boat ramp, the turtles made me wait.  The wind continued to blow Kona so the conditions were not calm, but finally I spotted a turtle out in front of me.  When I paddled towards it, two more turtles surfaced and I was sitting in a turtle triangle!  One of the turtles I recognized as “Bumpy”, and it came right up to my board!  It is such a friendly turtle!  Bumpy “cozied” up to my board and swam right next to me…..so I quickly laid back and dipped my arms into the water.  The turtle slid right under my arm, rubbing up against it!  Then I just laid there listening to the splashes and when it got quiet, I sat up and the turtles had disappeared.  The wind was not backing off so I decided to paddle back, but suddenly one more turtle surfaced!  On my way back, I ran into a paddling friend.  She told me she had seen the Manta Rays earlier and we paddled together for a few minutes and chatted.  Suddenly the wind backed off and it got really perfect!  Now it was going to be difficult to go in, but I wanted to swim in the nice conditions.  On the way in, I spotted a fleeting Manta Ray down in the water.   The calm water prevailed and my swim was great!  I even saw more Unicorn fish today down at the reef!  By the time I left the beach, the wind came back in crazy.  I hope the wind doesn’t come in early tomorrow!!