Happy honu!

After missing the last two days of paddling….I was itching to get back out there this morning, but it was already a bit windy.  I got out about 8:45 a.m., so it wasn’t late, but it just looked like it might be a windy one.  Just as I paddled out, a turtle popped up to greet me!  I stopped and hung around for a few minutes while it popped its head up and down and then dove under my board, then I continued on down to the boat ramp.  It seemed like hardly anyone was out and it was a really nice day,  but I think that because school started here today, not as many people were at the beach….YAY!  As I approached the boat ramp, I spotted a turtle lounging out a bit farther so I paddled out.  When I got to it, there was another turtle there too, so I cruised up between them!  I was so happy to see turtles today since lately they have been scarce and I ended up with nine turtles at the boat ramp and #10 was my buddy for the day!  It was quite a friendly turtle and it came right up to my board and swam around me and then dove down and disappeared.  The conditions had gotten quite nice too, with the wind backing off, but I was happy with ten turtles for the day and headed back.  I was just thinking what a perfect day it would have been if dolphins had been around……and just as I headed into the Kam I area…..I saw dolphins!!!  Lots of dolphins!!  Perhaps twenty-five in all…. the pod would break up now and then and the dolphins would break into groups of four or five!  It was amazing and they were so close in to shore that a lot of people saw them while they were out swimming!  They did flips, jumps, tail slaps, and were just plain fooling around, having a great time.  I applauded all their tricks! Another paddler was out in the middle of the dolphins too and he kept banging the water with his paddle.  It was so annoying!  He told me it makes the dolphins do tricks…….ummmmm, guy, this isn’t Seaworld!  If I found the banging annoying…I am pretty sure so did the dolphins.  The dolphins stayed in the area for close to an hour and I got to paddle with them down to Kam II…..right in the middle of a group of about sixteen of them….and then back to Kam I….where I saw a swimmer in the middle of some of the dolphins and it was my husband!!!!  He got so lucky!  Then the dolphins moved north and I kept paddling with them.  I paddled with them to just outside of Kalama Park and when other people saw me paddling with the dolphins, they came paddling out as fast as they could.  At that point I had been out paddling for about two hours and it looked like the wind was coming in, so I begrudgingly turned around and headed south.  Suddenly a guy on a board yelled at me and said, “LOOK!  Some of the dolphins are following you!”  As I turned to look back, I could see about five or six dolphins behind me!  It was so funny!  Then they turned and headed out to sea, so maybe they were just coming to say good-bye, who knows?  The wind came roaring in and I sure was glad that I was heading in the same direction as the wind!  I finally got back and I was in dolphin heaven!  I almost didn’t swim because I was so tired after that, but I’m glad I forced myself because the water felt so good and I got to swim with the same little Spotted Eagle Ray that I swam with a few days ago!  It was just hanging out and figured out that I was not a threat to it.  What a great, and very surprising day!!  I wonder what tomorrow’s adventure will be???