wildwahinepaddler

Akumal is is such a neat little beach town.  The beach is so peaceful and the water calm due to the outlying reef.  I went for another nice swim but the water wasn’t as clear near shore as it was yesterday…..so I swam farther out.  There are a lot more rocks and reefs out there so I got to see more kinds of fish today!   There wasn’t a single turtle around today though.   It sure was a beautiful day and we ended our outing with some grilled shrimp tacos!  Tomorrow will be another adventure……..

Nice!

Akumal

Akumal Beach

It took a hectic couple of days but we finally made it to Mexico!  Today was our first day to enjoy the Caribbean Sea so we went to a neat little beach town called Akumal.  What a great beach but not a stand up paddle board in sight!  Oh well….. I had a great swim/snorkel anyway! I swam with five turtles as they dove down to nibble on the sea grass, saw lots of interesting fish, and watched a big stingray flutter by!  The water is so warm and the most beautiful color of turquoise.  After the beach we had dinner at a little Mexican Cafe called “Lucy’s” and they make the best homemade ice cream…. YUM!  Tomorrow is another day and another adventure….. stay tuned!

Nice!

Well, finally a really perfect day for paddling!  I got a parking spot right in front and was out on my board in a matter of minutes.  It was so nice!  I headed straight for the boat ramp and ran into a couple of paddling friends.  One of them paddled down to the boat ramp with me.  It was so calm and perfect at the boat ramp, but the turtles were playing hide and seek with us!  They would pop up and when we paddled over to them, they would disappear.  For some reason, the turtles weren’t coming around today.  I stayed for a while down at the boat ramp and it was “hide and seek” the whole time!  I paddled back in perfect conditions and it stayed nice all the way through my swim.  The water has cleared up a bit except down at the reef it was still murky.  Hopefully the water gets back to clear before long!  It was an exceptionally nice day on Maui today!

Bumpy day!

After the wind finally backed down……then a swell came up causing shore break the last few days.  Now with the easterly winds, the vog is creeping back in too!  I really needed to get out there today though.  I got out a bit late and the lifeguards had the red flags posted, but I didn’t see any troublesome shore break.  It was low tide so I thought that could be the reason.  As I paddled out, a paddling friend was waiting for me so we paddled north to Kalama Park.  Then we turned around and decided to paddle to Kam III.  Kam II or III did not have any red flags out.  The ocean was bumpy……not at all glassy…..but the wind was cooperating!  We took a chance and paddled all the way to the boat ramp.  We spotted several turtles, but none stayed up long enough for me to get a photo today.  We paddled back because the tide was going to be coming in soon and that could bring some shore break waves.  It was a bumpy ride coming in, but I got in okay.  It was a nice day for a walk, but the water is still murky from the prior days of a swell.  Instead of my usual swim, I went out and did some back strokes as the bumps pushed me along.  It wasn’t the best paddling or swimming day, but it was still a beautiful day!

Just passing by!

Oh wow…..did I need to get out on the ocean today!  After all this wind, I had about had it…..but last night the wind seemed to be backing off so I had high hopes of no wind in the morning.  I got up at 6:30 a.m. and looked out the window and NO WIND!  I hurriedly texted one of my paddling friends and we both said we were getting out there as soon as possible.  I was in such a hurry…..I forgot to eat my yogurt!  I got down to the beach by about 8:00 a.m. and just waited five minutes for a parking spot right in front.  Everything was on track for a great morning of paddling!  Just as I paddled out, I looked down and a turtle was swimming right under me!  That was a good sign!  I headed straight down to the boat ramp.  The conditions were perfect!  So glassy and calm!  As soon as I arrived at the boat ramp……the turtles came popping up!  Soon I had counted fifteen turtles already!  I observed two new turtles today as well.  One was a smaller turtle with a scrap of his shell missing on the top…..so I named him “Scrappy”.  Then a really huge turtle was hanging around, much bigger than most of the others….but I couldn’t think of a name right off.  If it starts hanging around more, I will have to come up with a name for it too!  Soon a paddling friend arrived at the boat ramp and we were surrounded by five turtles!  They stayed floating around us for quite some time…..we loved it!  Wow, twenty turtles at the boat ramp; one turtle at Kam I; and on the way back, we spotted a turtle at Kam III and one at Kam II!  That was a total of twenty-three turtles for one morning!  We paddled back in perfect conditions and made it down to Charley Young Beach.  It was really hard to come in since it was so perfect!  The conditions stayed nice right through my swim and the water was so clear!  I REALLY needed a day like this!  I could use one like this tomorrow too!  Let’s hope……

Just sitting!

After all the flurry of turtle activity last week…….I ended up out of the water for four days, attending to some business instead of visiting my turtles!  Too many days out of the water!  It has been windy, (except Saturday looked to be perfect), and today was no exception with the wind.  I got out on my board about 9 a.m. and it was already windy!  The weather channel predicted East Northeast wind and they were right.  It sure was beautiful out though!  Due to the wind, I decided to paddle north, into the wind and ended up down at Kalama Park.  The clouds were intermittent but the wind just wasn’t going to back off.  I didn’t see a single turtle either!  I paddled south down to Kam II and then came back.  I had to be somewhere by 11:30, so I had to give up my walk for today as well as “kicking back” beach time.  I really don’t like to hurry when I am at the beach!  The wind got stronger and it’s crazy windy now…….but I sure hope it isn’t windy tomorrow morning!

Hello there!

Another lovely day!  The ocean was not glassy like yesterday with some onshore wind blowing……and some rolling swells coming from the north…..but it was still great!  I paddled in the wind down to Kam III, where my first turtle popped up.  It might have been the same one as yesterday, who knows?  It certainly was friendly like the turtle yesterday!  After visiting with the turtle for a few minutes……I thought it best to keep paddling down to the boat ramp.  The wind has been so unpredictable lately.  Yesterday it was perfect until about 11:00 a.m. and then the wind came roaring in and never let up.  Today started out with some wind, but by the time I got down to the boat ramp……it backed off!  It was very nice at the boat ramp but I didn’t trust it.  Thankfully, the turtles didn’t make me wait and started coming right up to the surface!  First it was one by one, then there was a triangle of three, and then I was surrounded by five turtles!  Ten turtles at the boat ramp and one turtle at Kam III…….eleven was good enough number for me!  I paddled back in nice conditions but all the time wondering if the wind would come roaring in……but it didn’t.  In fact, it got nicer than when I first went out paddling!  It was hard to come in since it was so nice!  It stayed nice while I walked and nice while I swam too!  Down at the reef, I saw a very big fish that had half its body bitten off and it was laying on the bottom among the rocks.  Seeing that made me not want to stick around today!  I kept imagining whatever bit off half the fishes body coming back for the rest of it…..not exactly thoughts that make you want to stick around the reef!  The smaller fish seemed unaffected and were busy swimming around the reef.  It was a calm swim back and the wind had still not come in by the time I left!  It was such a nice day and turtles make it that much nicer!

Fancy meeting you here!

The weather channel was calling for 22 mph winds today……..but the question was, when will that happen?  I checked the beach cam and it looked so glassy and nice.  I tried to get down to the beach early enough to hopefully beat the wind and luckily I found a place to park right in front!  It was just beautiful!  I paddled down to the boat ramp…..and as I was passing Kam II, I ran across my first turtle.  I stopped but it just swam around under me a few times and then dove down.  Then as I was passing Kam III, another turtle popped up near me so I stopped to visit and get a photo (there it is in the above photo!)  It was a very friendly turtle!  Down at the boat ramp, I got to visit with twenty more turtles!  They were all around and I got some great photos too!  It was so nice down there……  Except for a very noisy group of snorkelers passing by.  I paddled back in nice conditions and it was still beautiful.  Just as I got my board up the beach and onto my racks, the wind came roaring in as predicted!  It was a windy walk and then the wind backed off momentarily when I started out my swim, but then roared in again as I headed back from swimming.  It was work swimming against the wind!  The wind was so ferocious when I got back in that all my stuff was covered in sand!  I ended up hauling it all up to the grass before I took a shower.  It was REALLY  windy!  I hope tomorrow morning is just as nice!