Friendly guy!

It was another gorgeous day on Maui today!  Mostly sunny skies and a slight East wind blowing.  I headed straight for the boat ramp!  When I arrived…. there were three people snorkeling and diving down, so I wondered if the turtles were hiding.  Suddenly two turtles surfaced about the same time and I cruised up in-between them!  Then two more turtles popped up, and that made four turtles so far.  A paddling friend cruised into the boat ramp area and four turtles surfaced and we were surrounded!  I threw my hands in the air and yelled, “we’re surrounded!”  I love when that happens!  Suddenly there were turtles everywhere and the snorkelers had disappeared.  The turtle (in the above photo) was so friendly that I thought it was going to climb right up onto my board!  I got some good photos today.  My friend had to leave but I stayed to enjoy every minute!  Soon a boat cruised into the area, right by me.  I heard the captain telling his small group that I visit the turtles there every day and then he kept following me!  I decided to paddle back.  It was great conditions on the way back too!  It was hard to make the decision to come in, but I wanted to go for a walk and swim too.  A turtle swam past me on the way in!  I think there were about eighteen turtles today!   The conditions stayed so nice all the way through my swim and the reef was pretty clear too!  I saw quite a few fish swimming around.  I hope these days continue!!