wildwahinepaddler

nice day!

Although some VOG and smoke mingled in the air,  draping Haleakala and nearly obscuring Molokini and Kahoolawe, it was a perfect day for paddling.  I got out later than I wanted to because there was no place to park and I had to wait for someone to finally leave.  I hurried out.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and there were so many people out paddling and kayaking today!  At the boat ramp there were three paddlers, one snorkeler and one kayak already sitting at my spot, so I stayed farther north.  A turtle immediately popped up by me and then swam under my board!  Then I spotted a turtle out farther so I paddled out to it.  It ended up being a couple of turtles so I cruised up between them!  A father and daughter were out on stand up boards and when they saw the turtles, they started to follow me.  They were so excited when all three of us were surrounded by five turtles!  Then a turtle popped up right in the middle of our three boards and it was surrounded!  The turtles kept surfacing and one swam over to me and then went under me but the turtle didn’t calculate its clearance very well,  so it bumped me three times as it passed underneath me!  That spooked it and it darted away but in a couple of minutes it swam back by me again.  The father and daughter paddled on and then I had the turtles all to myself.  Four turtles surfaced around me and I was surrounded again!  By the time I had counted twenty-one turtles, it was time to paddle back.  The conditions got better and better!  Just as I paddled into the Kam I area I ran into a paddling friend.  She had paddled north today first and was on her way back.  We chatted for a few minutes and then paddled down to Cove Park together.  The conditions were so nice that it was hard to make the decision to paddle in!  It stayed nice all the way through my swim too.  It was a very nice day!

Hi baby!

After taking a day off from paddling yesterday, I was more than ready to get back out on the water.  It was a beautiful day, although there was wind already blowing from the south.  Just as I paddled out, I ran into a friend, so we paddled down to the boat ramp together.  As we neared our destination, we saw a hang glider hovering in the area and then my friend saw it land right on top of the Mana Kai!  I was looking for turtles so I missed that.  I spotted a turtle ahead of me so I paddled over, but it dove down and disappeared.  Then we spotted two more turtles out farther.  One of them dashed away, but the other one was very friendly!  A couple more turtles surfaced and one was in front of my friend and the other one popped up behind her!  This time she was in between turtles!  Due to the uncertainty of the wind conditions, my friend decided to paddle north, but I stayed around a bit longer.  Just as she started to paddle back, I spotted a couple of turtles farther north so I paddled over to them.  Suddenly it became six turtles, instead of two and I was surrounded!   I happily sat there in the middle of all those turtles for a few minutes until they all disappeared one by one.  I was going to start paddling back, but then found myself in a turtle triangle and then a few minutes later, two turtles surfaced and I was in between them!  By then, I had counted about sixteen turtles at the boat ramp, and then on my way past Kam III, I ran across another turtle and just had to stop!  I noticed that the wind had intensified and a few white caps were lapping the surface of the water, so I kicked it into gear and paddled against the wind.  Before long, I had caught up to my friend, so we paddled farther north.  We ended up at Cove Park and the wind had changed directions and was now blowing from the south again.  I decided to paddle in and my friend headed towards Kam II,  but suddenly there were two turtles ahead of us, so we paddled over to hang out for a few minutes.  Then I spotted two more turtles out farther and paddled out to them!  Now my turtle count was up to twenty-one for the day!  The wind continued to blow but it didn’t affect my swimming.  Just as I began my swim to the south, a turtle appeared below me and it was swimming north.  I turned around and swam just above it for a while!  Then suddenly it started to surface right in front of me, so I just had to give it a rub on its shell.  This happened a second time and then instead of swimming down, the turtle stopped and turned around and was right next to me within a few inches!  I reached out to rub its shell again, and it floated there and just watched me giving it a loving rub!  I think it was actually enjoying the attention!  Then the turtle swam down and continued to swim north, so I said good-bye and proceeded to swim south.  Down at the reef I saw some assorted tropical fish and then swam back.  I just love days when I get to interact with the turtles!!!

here turtle, turtle!

Of course I couldn’t expect another epic day like yesterday……and well, no dolphins for today!  It was still a gorgeous day, though,  for paddling with just a hint of breeze blowing from the south.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and when I got there, the wind totally backed off.  The ocean got really glassy and nice!  I immediately started to see the turtles……with two popping up right near me.  I cruised over to sit between them, and when I got there, it ended up being three turtles with me in the middle! More turtles surfaced and I was having a hard time keeping track of them.  A paddling friend joined me and a turtle came right up to me and popped its head out of the water to take a big breath of air.  I knew this was coming  (after the same thing happened the other day…) so I was prepared……the turtles mouth opened wide right by me and this time I didn’t flinch!  Then it dove under me and come up on the other side of me.  I yelled to my friend to ask if she saw that, but she was too focused on another turtle by her.  We were both surrounded by four turtles, and then when she paddled on, I was surrounded by four more turtles!  I stayed down at the boat ramp for quite a while since there were so many friendly turtles. Just as I was going to leave, another paddling friend cruised into the area so I stayed longer.  A few more turtles surfaced until I counted twenty-nine for the day!  Then an ambulance drove up by the boat ramp and a boat came zipping in followed by a Coast Guard patrol boat.  My friend and I watched while they loaded someone onto the ambulance!  We didn’t know what happened though.  Paddling back was really nice and at the calm conditions prevailed all the way through my swim too!  What a nice day for Halloween!

Dolphins!!!

I searched through a ton of photos to find a picture of a dolphin…..and I found this one I took of a Bottle Nose Dolphin at one of the ECO parks in Cancun.  I can’t believe I almost didn’t go out paddling today…..I would have missed an incredible day of dolphins!  Just as I was heading into the boat ramp area, I saw two paddling friends coming my way.  One of them was “hooting” and I wondered what he was doing….and then I saw them……a pod of Spinner dolphins coming up from under the water!  I whipped my board around and started to follow them.  The dolphins were just making circles in the water,  sometimes breaking off into groups of four or five.  I tried to count them and came up with about twenty dolphins in the group!  They were so close and at one point I was in between two groups, and a dolphin shot out of the water to my left,  spun around and splashed in, and then another dolphin off to my right did the same thing!  It was like I had a private show!  An older man and his wife came out on paddle boards and then I recognized the man as being out one other day when I paddled with dolphins.  He yelled to me and asked, “Do you bring the dolphins out every time I come out?”  I just laughed!  Then I heard him tell his wife I was the “Dolphin Lady”.  We were all having a ball paddling with the dolphins and then the dolphins swam very close to the rocks by the shore.  Some other people stopped following the dolphins, but I stayed right with them!  I had a pod of about ten dolphins I was paddling with and they stayed right with me.  I could see them next to me and at the nose of my board, it was so cool!  As the dolphins and I passed the boat ramp, I could see several turtles bobbing at the surface and we zipped right through them!  I couldn’t believe that I was paddling with dolphins right next to turtles, all at the same time!  The dolphins led me all the way down to Keawakapu Beach,  swimming next to me with some of them swimming upside down so I could see their bellies!  Then a couple of them did some tail slaps on the surface of the water too!  A man and woman in a kayak were trying to catch up to us, but they were too slow.  I ran into them when I left the dolphins to paddle north….then I looked  back and saw the dolphins still frolicking in the water!  I told the kayakers that if they hurried, they might get to see the dolphins.  The woman in the kayak said, “Wow, those dolphins seemed to really like you!”  Weird as it sounds……it seemed to be true!  I spent close to an hour with the dolphins and then paddling past the boat ramp, the turtles started to beckon me,  so I turned towards them.  There were so many turtles that I don’t really know how many there were today!  I was having such a great time with the turtles that I didn’t notice the pontoon snorkel boat cruising into the area.  The boat had quite a few snorkelers on it, but I decided to stick around since there were so many turtles popping up!  At two different times I had turtles drift under my board, and both of them tried to surface under me and hit my board with a “thud and a clunk”!  It was so funny!  I chatted briefly with the crew of the boat and then I headed back.  The conditions were so nice that I wondered about the wind, but it never came up all the time I was at the beach.  I even ran across a turtle paddling in too!  My swim was great too….what a magnificent day all around!!!!!!

nice sunset!

This was last nights sunset!  It was really nice.  Today I got a later start than I had wanted to and didn’t get out into the water until 8:45 a.m.  Just as I was about to hop onto my board, a turtle popped up!  It was on the move, though, so I paddled on.  It was nice paddling down to the boat ramp but when I got there a few other people were already there.  Three people were snorkeling off of their stand up boards, and there was also a kayak there.  I spotted a turtle down by the boat lane so I paddled over.  It didn’t end up staying long so I paddled farther north and just sat waiting for the turtles.  Only three more turtles surfaced and then suddenly the wind came up and turned the ocean surface into ripples!  I realized that it might get very windy, so I paddled back.  The wind intensified and I paddled against it until I reached Kam I, and then it backed off.  I paddled past the boats and then turned in towards shore.  Thankfully the wind stayed out during my swim and I had a school of blue fish pass me from behind!  I counted about thirty fish and they zipped by me and kept going.  Down at the reef, I saw two scuba divers milling around near the bottom, and they had the fish spooked!   Swimming back was nice, but soon after I came in,  the wind did too and this time it came in with a fury!  As soon as the wind started blowing the sand it was time to leave.  I hope it isn’t windy tomorrow morning!!

do you see a tsunami??

Well, it was an exciting evening with civil defense sirens going off every hour!  I waited until midnight and when I didn’t hear the siren go off…..so I went to bed!  The newspaper was late this morning which was a drag because I wanted to check to see if the beaches were closed.  Finally it showed up about 8 a.m. and after a quick glance over the article in the paper, it appeared that no beaches were closed.  I headed down to the beach and the parking lot was pretty much empty, as was the beach, and it was such a perfect morning!  I hurried out paddling and there was no one out except me.  I spotted a turtle ahead of me half way between the buoy and the boats,  so I paddled to it.  When I got to it, the turtle was just lounging on the surface!  Then I noticed another turtle swimming towards me.  It dove under my board and then popped up on the other side of me!  I had only been out a few minutes and I was already sitting between two big turtles!  That was a good sign.  I paddled in glassy calm conditions all the way down to the boat ramp with no tsunami in sight!  It seemed I had the whole ocean to myself and I spotted a turtle right away down by the boat lane.  It disappeared, but before I knew it, the other turtles started to surface around me!  At one point I was sitting in a turtle triangle, when I noticed that one of the turtles was “Torpedo Head”, and he kept shooting his big head up out of the water and diving down.  Then he swam around me.  I always recognize this turtle and he came to visit me several times while I was at the boat ramp!  There were turtles of all sizes today, even a really little one!  I got surrounded a couple of times today, once by four turtles and another time by five turtles!  The turtles didn’t disappoint today and they seemed unscathed by the excitement of the evening before!  In fact, if anything, they were more relaxed and friendly than usual.  I stayed down at the boat ramp for quite a while and the conditions stayed perfect!  I counted twenty-six turtles at the boat ramp plus the two turtles at Kam I, which was twenty-eight for the day!  I paddled back in the same glassy conditions and about the time I was heading into the Kam I area, I heard the noisy Scuba boat behind me.  It got louder and closer, so I turned to look and the boat had come almost to Kam I!  Suddenly it veered in my direction and started to honk its horn!  I wondered what the heck that guy was doing, and then the boat whipped around and sped south.  I can only guess the guy driving the boat was trying to show off for his passengers, and probably hoping to scare me, but he didn’t succeed!  What an idiot he was!  Then I ran into a paddling friend who asked me what the boat was honking for.  I told her that he was trying to show off and be stupid!  The ocean was exceptionally calm and glassy, so we hung out and chatted about the Tsunami warning.  It was really difficult making the decision to paddle in with such perfect conditions prevailing!  I headed in and my friend headed back to Kam II.  My swim was really perfect too and while I was hanging out watching the fish at the reef…..a small turtle swam underneath me!  I swam around with it by the reef for a little while and then it headed north but I wasn’t ready to swim back yet so I watched it disappear through the water.  Now my turtle count for the day went up by one…..twenty nine turtles for the grand total!  By the time I was almost back from my swim, the wind moved in and the water got choppy.  Despite all the tsunami excitement, I found that the best time to have the beach and ocean to myself,  is the morning after a tsunami warning!!!

so many buddies!

After yesterdays windy day,  I was looking forward to some calm conditions and that’s just what I got for today!  I ran across a turtle by the buoy on my way paddling out, so I stopped and followed it around for a few minutes.  It surfaced for a minute and then swam away.  There was a slight breeze blowing from the north.  Just as I made my way out, I spotted a paddling friend out farther.  I paddled out to her and we chatted for a few minutes and paddled together down to the boat ramp.  When we arrived, there were a few other paddlers already there.  After a few minutes, turtles started to surface.  I spotted two turtles in closer to the shore,  so I paddled in, but when I got to them it was three turtles!  I cruised right up into the turtle triangle, and then my friend yelled that there was a turtle behind me and another one right next to it!  I pointed out the three turtles in front of me, then looked at the two behind me and shouted, “surrounded!!!”  I love when that happens!  More turtles popped up and some were very friendly.  My friend decided to paddle back but I stayed for a while.  After she left, even more turtles surfaced, ending with a repeat of three turtles, turning into five turtles and being surrounded again!  Altogether, I counted twenty-five turtles for the day!  The day was so perfect and paddling back was just as nice as when I started out.  As I was heading towards Kam I, I ran into my friend again.  She told me it was already 10:30 a.m.!  I paddled in and went for my swim.  It was very mellow and at the reef I saw a baby Puffer fish that was so tiny.  It could not have been more than three inches long!  I have never seen one that tiny.  I also watched two small Ulua fish checking out the reef action.  The nice conditions continued and it didn’t get windy until about the time I left the beach.  I love days like this!!

Only one turtle for today!

I got up early this morning and looked outside.  I could see the wind blowing the palms and other trees already!  I almost decided not to go paddling.  Then I went out with the binoculars and looked out at the ocean and there were no white caps to be seen!  That was strange.  By the time I got down to the beach, the wind was definitely blowing,  but I went out paddling anyway!  I was just about to hop onto my board when I spotted a turtle right by me in about three feet of water and a tourist was freaking out!  I think she was afraid it might bite her legs!  I turned and started to follow it, but it was happily cruising the ocean floor and didn’t seem likely to surface any time soon.  I paddled out and the wind was blowing from the north….but I took a gamble and paddled down to the boat ramp.  The wind at my back pushed me and the ocean was rolling from the south, so I was having fun paddling over the bumps!  I got down to the boat ramp in record time…..and although no one else was there, I noticed a few other paddlers in the area and they were all paddling north!  I gave the turtles a few minutes to start showing up so when they didn’t, I thought it best to turn around and paddle in the direction of the other paddlers!  I didn’t know what the wind was going to do and by the time I paddled by Kam III, the wind picked up and some white caps started to appear.  It was a workout paddling against the wind, but it was fun too!  Sometimes paddling involves experiencing the ocean conditions and most of the time, it involves experiencing the ocean creatures. Today was an “ocean conditions” kind of day!  As I paddled into the Kam I area, I saw a paddling friend out farther so I paddled out to her.  She was out kind of far considering how much the wind had picked up.  We chatted for a bit and ended up drifting down more towards Kam II thanks to the wind!  We both decided that a day like today makes you focus on the conditions and skill building…..and sometimes it can be a welcome change.  Days like today make you appreciate the mellow days that much more!  I decided to paddle in and go swimming, so my friend continued on to Kam II and I came in.  The wind backed off a little, but not much, so my swim was much like my paddling experience……on the bumpy side!  It’s okay though, the water still feels wonderful regardless of at the conditions!!!!!

Hey buddy!

Wow, what a mellow day it was on Maui today!  Calm ocean conditions and no wind is how it started out.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and although there were several people around, fortunately they all either moved on or out.  I ended up having the place to myself!  I initially spotted a turtle down near the boat lane and paddled down, but the turtle disappeared.  Then I heard a splash and turned around and there were two turtles floating on the water behind me!  I whipped my board around and eased in between the turtles.  They both hung around for a few minutes and then they both dove under me and I could see them swimming around under my board!  The water is so clear right now and the colorful coral is so fun to look at, along with watching the turtles.  After the initial three turtles, there was a lull with no turtles for a while, but then they started to come up!  I sat in a couple of turtle triangles and between a few of them and some of the turtles were so friendly!  A couple of the turtles swam down to the nose of my board and just stayed there.  I was afraid I was going to clunk them on their shell, but they both dove down just in time!  Just as I was about to leave, three turtles surfaced and I recognized one of them as “Torpedo head”.  Two of them stayed, but Torpedo head just kept popping its big head up and diving under!  That’s how I knew it was Torpedo head!  I was feeling very happy with my fifteen turtles for the day and with a breeze starting to blow from the north, I decided to head back.  Paddling back was a joy!  The day stayed mellow all the way through my swim too.  What a nice day!

Nice morning!

It was a nice morning with no wind and just a hint of VOG in the air.  I don’t like the VOG, but it wasn’t too bad today.  The swell and surge had cut a hill into the beach during the night, but the ocean wasn’t much different than yesterday.  I did have to wait for some waves to come in before I could paddle out, but the lifeguards had not put out the red flags.   I saw a Spotted Eagle Ray by the buoy, so I followed it around for a few minutes but it never surfaced.   I definitely noticed the swells I was paddling over and when I got to Kam II, the red flags were out at that beach.  As I paddled into Kam III, the swells were bigger and they had red flags out too and a lifeguard was on the loud speaker saying that the swell was supposed to continue throughout the day.  Well, not knowing if the swells would stay how they were or if it would get bigger, I erred on the side of caution and paddled back to Kam I!   It definitely was not as big at Kam I, but I did have to wait to come in so I wouldn’t get tossed by any of the waves.  So no turtles today, but I was glad I saw the Ray!  My swim was very nice, but going out I got caught by a wave and almost lost my bathing suit bottom!  Once I got out past the breakers, swimming was really nice and the visibility was good.  I hope the swell drops by tomorrow!