OH HELLO!

I can’t believe there were actually two perfect days in a row!  Paddling conditions have been so “hit and miss” lately.  I headed towards the boat ramp hoping the wind wasn’t going to come up……but just as I passed Kam II, some wind kicked up blowing from the East.  I continued on paddling against the wind and when I got to the boat ramp……the wind backed off a bit.  It was pretty perfect there!  I ran into a paddling friend and we both spotted a turtle out farther and paddled out to it, but it disappeared.  My friend paddled north and I stayed around and I’m glad I did!  I had nine turtles to keep me company today and a couple of them were really into posing today (the above turtle popped up like he wanted me to take a photo of him!).  I got some good shots and a tourist woman on a rented stand up board was laughing her head off saying,”oh my that turtle is just following you like it knows you have a camera!”  Well, it sort of seemed like it was!  What a mug shot!  Anyway, this turtle ended up being the turtle I call “Bumpy” so then I was not surprised at its friendliness!  That turtle has practically climbed up on my board before.  The tourist probably thought I was goofy……talking to it the way I was!  The wind still had not backed of completely so that meant it could change directions at any minute, so I bid farewell to my turtles and paddled back.  By the time I went for my walk, it was windy and it was still windy when I went for my swim!  I swam into the wind down to the reef, but the reef was not as clear as yesterday.  I had heard from a beach friend that the beach had been closed prior to my arriving due to a report of a 6 – 8 foot tiger shark being spotted in the area.  Luckily, it opened up just as I arrived at the beach.  I never saw the shark anyway!  It was just a beautiful day!