Here come the turtles!

It was another perfect day out on the water!  Another day that the island of Lanai was visible, but apparently it is not supposed to last as the trade winds are due to back off for a few days which will let the VOG slip back in…….it’s been a strange year for the winds and the VOG.  I paddled down to the boat ramp in smooth conditions with only some odd loopy-type swells that came in intermittently, but then disappeared altogether.  At the boat ramp two tourist snorkelers showed up right after I did but thankfully they were not splashing about, so the turtles came up!  I started out with two turtles which I sat between….then more turtles popped up and the snorkelers and I were surrounded!  I even saw “Bumpy” today and “Little Torpedo Head” was practicing shooting its head out of the water and propelling itself!  Then I spotted a Manta Ray so I followed it around for a few minutes until it disappeared.  The conditions were so nice that I laid back on my board and listened to the turtles popping up to look at me.  Then I heard a loud voice and paddling noise.  Two novice paddlers had moved into the area and had seen the turtles floating around me and the woman paddler was yelling to her boyfriend, “Turtles!  Look,  the turtles are all around that lady!”  I sat up in time to see the turtles diving down to get away.  It was annoying!  Then she paddled up to me and said, “Well aren’t you the turtle Goddess!”….. oh that’s a new one! Finally they paddled away, and the turtles began surfacing again.  Then a paddling friend showed up and more turtles surfaced!  We paddled back in perfect conditions and we both decided to go in so we could get to our swims.  My swim ended up great too!  The water is very clear right now, so I saw lots of fish down at the reef.  The wind came up on my way back, but it was still a very nice swim!  It is really starting to feel like Summer!  I hope tomorrow is just as nice….we’ll see……