wildwahinepaddler

Windy!

Last Friday the conditions were a mixed bag……windy and choppy…..and then nice.  I ran into a paddling friend and we headed down to the boat ramp.  Another paddling friend was already down there with some out-of-town visitors and we all saw turtles!  Yesterday, I spent the morning up the mountain, in Makawao town.  It was a super perfect day all over the island and I enjoyed browsing around all the neat little shops and businesses.  After lunch, we took a drive through Haiku and it was so green!  As we headed back on Hana Highway, we drove by Hookipa Beach Park and there were so many wind surfers and kite surfers out.  The waves were huge!  It was breathtaking to watch.  Today, the day started out a bit gloomy, but I checked the beach cam and it looked nice.  When I got down to the beach, it was a different story……the wind had come up and there was definitely a swell.  I went out anyway, but it was very choppy!  I paddled down towards Kam II, and ran into a paddling friend.  She told me that there was a substantial shore break at Kam II and it was difficult to get out.  Neither beach had any red flags out and I don’t know why!  Anyway, I just got to feeling that it wasn’t a friendly ocean out there and I came in.  I knew I was looking at a choppy swim, but once I got out swimming, the wind died back some and the conditions were better.  The water visibility wasn’t very good due to the swell…..but at least I could see the ocean bottom.  The water always feels good, though!  It would be great if tomorrow was back to perfect….we’ll see!

Purrrrrfect Day!

Yes, we’ve had a windy spell….. and some stormy days….BUT today was perfect!!!!!  The wind has backed off for now……and already the VOG is creeping back in.  The island of Lanai was completely invisible today!  On Monday I went down to the beach and it was windy…but I went out paddling fully aware of what I was up against.  It was windy going down to the boat ramp AND coming back….but even though the water was choppy, I still got to visit with eleven turtles!  Paddling back was really a chore though!  This morning it looked perfect when I checked the Beach Cam….and it really was perfect!  Despite the VOG, I paddled down to the boat ramp and on the way I ran into a paddling friend so we paddled together.  Down at the boat ramp, two kayaks were sitting in our spot and then a boat chugged over to our spot too!  I didn’t see any turtles and wondered if I would see any since there was way too much activity down there.  My friend had to leave, and soon the boat finally left, as well as one of the kayaks and things quieted down a lot!  Soon I spotted two turtles in farther so I paddled in.  I sat between a large turtle and a really little turtle, until they disappeared.  Then one by one, the turtles started to emerge.  My paddling friend told me she had seen “Spot” down by Cove park twice….. and I remembered seeing “Lizard” on a couple of different days right in front of Kam I.  At the boat ramp, I saw “Bumpy” who is a really friendly turtle!  It surfaced next to me, and then it came right over to me and “bumped” my board!  I couldn’t believe the turtle kept bumping me, and one of the tourists in the kayak yelled, “Hey, that turtle is kind of harassing you!”  I laughed about that!  Then it swam right under me and was just hanging out under me…..clunking it’s shell up against my board!  It was so funny.  Before I knew it, I had counted a dozen turtles for the day!  The conditions stayed nice all the way back and one more turtle was swimming under me as I came in at Kam I.   That made thirteen turtles for the day.   I was feeling a bit blue and the turtles came to my rescue and reminded me of how lucky I am!  Turtles make me so happy!  The visibility in the water is excellent right now too, so I saw a flurry of fish down at the reef when I swam.  The day was just perfect in every way and I was so glad I went out paddling!  I would love it if tomorrow is just as nice…..we’ll see!

My buddies!

Yesterday the beach was completely blown out by 8 a.m. …… so I was hoping today would be different.  It was a beautiful morning with some wind blowing from the north, but no cane smoke!  I couldn’t wait to get out there.  I was running a bit late and had to wait for parking….so it was about 9 a.m. when I finally got out on the ocean.  I paddled to the boat ramp immediately and was immediately greeted by a large turtle as I cruised in!  It dove just under the water but I could still see it swimming north so I followed it for a few minutes.  There were two kayaks full of tourists and one stand up paddler at the boat ramp, but amazingly enough, I still got to visit with thirteen turtles!  In fact, at one point, the two kayaks and I were surrounded by five turtles all at once!  The tourists were ecstatic!  Then I paddled away and found myself surrounded by three turtles!  The turtles kept surfacing and the wind had backed off making the conditions glassy so I stayed for a while.  The last turtle was such a small one!  A real baby turtle!  Suddenly some clouds rolled in and the ocean got choppy.  The wind was coming in!  I decided to paddle back as quick as I could go since I know how crazy windy it was yesterday….but it quickly became wind swells and white caps!  I struggled along until I got half way past Kam II, and then the wind backed off again.  It was nice conditions the rest of the way back and then it was nice for my swim, until I started my swim back….and the wind came in again!  This time it stayed in and got stronger, blowing sand and beach umbrellas around.  I only stayed long enough to dry off and then it was time to go home.  I hope the wind stays away tomorrow…. until the afternoon…..but you never know!!

Nice day!

Yesterday I was so glad to be back out on the water, even though it was windy when I went out.  I paddled north into the wind for a while to see what it was going to do.  It wasn’t backing off, so I turned and paddled south.  I ended up down at the boat ramp, but by that time, the tour boat was there and had already dropped all of it’s snorkelers off.  I stayed for just a few minutes and didn’t see one single turtle!  The wind just wasn’t letting up and I paddled against it all the way back.  The wind backed off just a little when I went for my swim, but then it came back in!  Today it looked perfect out there……as you can see in the photo, but believe it or not, by the time I got out in the water, the wind had picked up!  I decided to just paddle down to the boat ramp anyway.  I was earlier than yesterday, so I had the place to myself for a while!  As soon as I paddled in, three turtles surfaced!  I paddled up between them.  Then another bigger turtle popped up farther north so I paddled over.  It was a really friendly turtle!  I sat at the boat ramp for a while and hoped for more turtles, but only two more surfaced and I sat between them.  Six turtles were better than no turtles!  The wind backed off and I was able to paddle back in calmer conditions.  It stayed nice through my swim and I even got to swim with a turtle today!  It was moving along pretty quickly, but I kept up with it.  The turtle only surfaced once, to get a quick gulp of air, and then it dove down by the bottom.  I turned around and swam back to the reef to watch the fish.  The water visibility is really good right now!  The wind seemed to be coming in and out, but the skies got really overcast and it almost looked like it might storm, so I went home.  It was still a very nice day!!

Laying by my buddies!

The VOG is definitely upon us.  The islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe were barely visible today.  At least it’s not bad enough that I am coughing…… sometimes you just have to be grateful for small things!  With the lack of any significant wind, the conditions are always nice, except for the VOG blows over from the Big Island volcano!  I enjoyed the conditions though and easily paddled down to the boat ramp.  To my dismay, when I arrived there, a group of tourists with snorkels and rented stand up boards were thrashing about, yelling, diving and chasing the turtles!  I really wanted to tell them not to do that, but I kept my mouth shut and just hoped they would go away.  One of the young girls kept yelling, “where are the turtles, where are the turtles?”…I just wanted to yell, hey they’re hiding from idiots like you!  But I didn’t.  As luck would have it, a couple of the kids started arguing with each other and the father made them all come with him.  Finally the boat ramp was back to the peacefulness that it usually is….and the turtles started to come up!  First, three turtles surfaced and I was sitting in a turtle triangle right away!  Then there were several times I sat between two turtles just hanging out.  It was so calm and peaceful, I just laid back on my board and watched the turtles out of the corner of my eye!  It’s so funny when they come up and pop their head up and look at you!  By the time I had been there for a while, I counted ten lovely turtles!  I can’t tell you how happy turtles make me!  The tour boat still had not roared in, so I decided to paddle back.  It was so nice paddling back!  Just as I was heading in at Kam I, a big turtle surfaced right in front of me.  Now my final turtle count was eleven!  The conditions stayed nice all the way through my swim too!  What a nice day it was all the way around!!

I love the honu!

Well,  it was almost a day like yesterday….except the sky was more overcast and the VOG has crept back in again.  Still no significant wind, but that is why the VOG is creeping back in too.  Conditions were nice for paddling and before I even got started, I ran into a big turtle right outside Kam I!  I think it was “Lizard”!  It looked like the one I see often down at the boat ramp, but today it was hanging around Kam I.  I stopped to visit with it and it was very friendly!  When the turtle disappeared, I headed down to the boat ramp.  When I got closer, I could see a kayak and quite a few snorkelers there already.  I paddled up and was immediately surrounded by three turtles…..then two more joined us and I was sitting between five turtles!  Finally the snorkelers left and then it was just me and the kayak with two tourists on it remaining.  The turtles kept surfacing and I counted thirteen at the boat ramp and then decided to paddle back before the snorkel boat arrived.  Suddenly a big turtle popped up and of course I had to stay!  What a funny turtle!  It kept hanging near the nose of my board, and bumping into it, then it dove under me and surfaced on the left side of me, but only half of it surfaced and the other half was still under my board!  The turtle kept bumping me gently and finally it moved from under me.  Just about then the snorkel boat was approaching and they pulled up near me and the turtle and one of the crew asked, “Was that turtle harassing you?”…so I asked him if he saw what the turtle had been doing and he laughed.  Then I paddled back in nice conditions and it stayed nice all the way through my swim too!  Except for the VOG, it was a perfect day to start Spring!!

Hi there!

So I got my wish granted……a perfect day with no significant wind.  It was a beautiful day out on the water!  The skies were mostly clear with just some wispy clouds above, and the conditions were perfect.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and just as I was passing Kam III, I ran into a paddling friend who usually isn’t out paddling on Tuesdays.  She’s a teacher at the college, so I asked her if she was playing “hooky” today.  Apparently her class didn’t start until noon, so she was getting in some paddling before going to work.  We chatted for a few minutes and then she pointed out a turtle.  I told her that the turtle was calling my name and I paddled on!  Seven more turtles surfaced while I was there and just before I started to paddle back, I saw whales breeching out farther!  I paddled out a bit farther, but not all the way out, but I could see several whales and counted eight breeches!  Have I mentioned how much I love whale season on Maui???  Then as I was passing Kam III, I noticed a school of about twenty fish swimming near the surface.  I sat in the middle of the fish while they were swimming around!  That doesn’t happen very often so I really enjoyed it.  The conditions stayed nice and paddling back was great too.  I swam in a relatively peaceful ocean and saw a lot of fish down by the reef.  It was just a very perfect kind of day.  I hope it’s just like that tomorrow !!!

Sunday sunset

This was last nights sunset!  It was windy yesterday and ended up windy today too.  I missed the last three days of paddling due to being sick, so I was more than ready to get back out on the ocean, but it was already windy!  I went out anyway, knowing what I was getting myself into.  I paddled north for a while, but there was cane smoke blowing from the north and it was making me cough, so I turned around.  It was so much better going south!  With the wind and smoke at my back, I was a lot happier, but I knew getting pushed south meant if the wind didn’t back off, I would be struggling against it on the way back.  I paddled down to the end of Kam III and decided to turn around when the wind chopped ocean turned into hissing white caps!  No luck with the wind backing off today….it just wasn’t going to happen.  Just as I turned around to go back, I spotted two turtles ahead so I paddled up to them and sat in between them!  One of them disappeared, but the other one hung around.  I hesitated to stay very long though!  The wind got worse and it was a struggle paddling against it and the white caps.  It took me forever too, but just as I made it outside of Kam I, another turtle popped up!  I quickly paddled over, but it didn’t stick around.  Despite the wind, I still saw three turtles!  I made my way in and went for my swim.  The water visibility is very good and I got a push going south. As soon as I put my head under the water, I was in the middle of a school of about twenty silvery blue fish!  They were interested in something tasty on the ocean bottom.  Down at the reef there was a flurry of fish and I enjoyed watching them.  I swam back against the wind, so today I got quite a workout!  It was a beautiful day, (especially when the smoke cleared out….) but it stayed windy.  I wouldn’t be unhappy if it wasn’t windy tomorrow though!  We’ll see…..