wildwahinepaddler

I’m back, but I didn’t hear my alarm this morning.  The music played for a full hour before I heard it, and then it was too late to go paddling!  I guess our trip was tiring and I didn’t realize how much.  This is a photo that was shared with me of the solar eclipse in southern California.  I hope it’s real!  Anyway, I thought I would share it.  I am anxious to get back out on my board, so I will make that happen tomorrow for sure!  I did enjoy Oahu, especially the north shore.  We swam in Waimea Bay almost every day.  It’s one of my most favorite places in the world!  The last day we were there it was raining, but I swam anyway.  I saw the usual fish I had been seeing, but on my way back I ran into a turtle that appeared below me!  I turned around and swam with it for a while.  It was the first turtle I had seen while on this trip, so I was ecstatic to swim with it!  It stopped raining while I was swimming, but when I came in, it started really raining and I was soaked along with all my beach stuff.  I didn’t care, it always a good day swimming in Waimea Bay!  I’m glad to be home now, though, too.  Hopefully my turtles at the boat ramp will be awaiting me tomorrow!

Waimea Bay

It was my fault that I couldn’t bring my stand up board to Oahu.  I booked our flight over on GO airline and it ended up that boards over 6 feet long can’t go.  I was so bummed out!  Oh well, I have to be satisfied with swimming this week.  Today we spent the day at Waimea Bay over on the north shore.  It’s one of my most favorite places in all the world!  It was a beautiful day and we were lucky enough to find a parking spot right away, which is almost impossible.  It was so nice to get into the ocean for a swim.  I saw fish while I was swimming, but no turtles today.  I hope to see turtles some time this week, so stayed tuned!

I love turtles!

It started out to be a really nice day, mostly sunny and a nice breeze.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and I was the only person there.  I was immediately greeted by a very friendly turtle!  It hung right in front of  me for a few minutes and then another turtle popped up next to me, and then another one surfaced on the other side of me!  It was the turtle triangle again with me in the middle!  I was so lucky to have so many turtles surfacing and swimming next to me and under me.  I counted about twenty-nine turtles in all!  Only one of them had tumors thank goodness.  I felt so sorry for it because it had tumors on its head, one on its flippers, and a big one right under its mouth.  It is so sad to see that because you know the turtle isn’t going to live very long.  I was surrounded numerous times by turtles and having a great time, when the pontoon tour boat roared in.  I was glad I had been enjoying so many turtles before they arrived.  I paddled back in perfect conditions and it stayed super nice all the way through my swim!  Then I had to get home to finish packing for our trip to Oahu.  I sure wish I was taking my board, but Go airlines won’t let you bring a board longer than 6 ft. so my eleven footer doesn’t qualify!  Next time I will be sure to book our flights on Hawaiian so I don’t have that problem again.  I will be posting from Oahu, so stay tuned!

Kihei Boat Ramp

The day looked really beautiful so I couldn’t wait to get down to the beach.  Just as I hit the traffic light at the end of the street…I could see that the whole parking lot was closed!  My first thought was possibly a shark sighting, so I parked across the street and walked over to check it out.   It was just perfect out on the water and no shark signs, so I asked a worker who was doing some digging down by the volley ball court why the parking lot was closed.  His response, “Cuz we’re doing some work at the other end of the park”…  my response, “You’re doing work at the other end of the park and so the whole parking lot is closed????”  His response, “Well,  go call the office!”  Okay, I’m all for fixing up the park and maybe blocking off one or two parking spots to park the equipment they are working with, but the whole parking lot?  I shook my head and thought, only on Maui!  Oh well!  I had to paddle a few quick sprints just to shake off my frustrations and then I forgot all about it.  Conditions were perfect for paddling so I paddled down to the boat ramp.  When I arrived, I only saw one person snorkeling and no one else, so I pretty much had the place to myself!  It wasn’t long before I spotted my first turtle, so I paddled over to it.  When I got to it, two more turtles surfaced creating a “turtle triangle” and I was right in the middle of it!  Then I saw a paddling friend coming in my direction and she had her iPhone again.  Only some of the photos we took yesterday turned out, but I took the best video of the day of a big turtle swimming by my board and popping its head up a few times!  We tried to take video today too, so we’ll see how that turned out.  There were so many turtles!  I had so many of them hanging next to my board and swimming under me and popping up on the other side of me and just swimming around me!  I had counted over twenty turtles by the time the pontoon tour boat roared up with its snorkelers.  My friend and I stayed around even with the boat there and all the snorkelers….and there were still more turtles surfacing and swimming around us!  The day stayed nice and we paddled back in perfect conditions.  My friend went in and I headed back to Kam I, but just as I was about to leave Kam II,  I saw a turtle swimming under the water so I followed it for a few minutes, but it never surfaced.  The conditions stayed nice all the way through my swim too.  It was just a really perfect day even though it started out frustrating!

Perfect conditions!

It was a super nice day out on the ocean today!  The conditions could not have been more perfect and paddling was great.  The water was calm with just a slight breeze blowing to keep things cool.  I paddled out and saw a paddling friend so we paddled down to the boat ramp together.  She had brought her iPhone with her,  in a great little case that supposedly protects it to 30 ft under the water.  We both were wondering if that was really true!  When we got to the boat ramp, we were the only ones there.  She spotted the first turtle, so we paddled out to it, but then two more turtles surfaced and we were surrounded!  My friend was trying to take photos and video with her phone, but it was hard to see.  We followed around quite a few turtles, taking photos, but many of them were diving when we got to them.  We wondered if they were camera shy today!  A few of the turtles were very friendly and came up really close to our boards, though,  so I know we got one good video.  At one point, three turtles made a triangle and I ended up in the middle of it…..wow, I love it when that happens!  There were plenty of turtles around today and I think I counted about 26 of them.   I got to sit between quite a few of them today too.  The day was so nice that it was hard to leave the boat ramp!  We paddled back and my friend went in to charge her phone, and I continued on to Kam I.  The conditions stayed perfect all the way through my swim too. What a perfect day!

Waiting patiently!

It was a beautiful morning out on the water today!  The sun was shining and there was just a comfortable breeze blowing.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and when I got there, I was the only one there.  I paddled in and didn’t see any turtles around, so I sat down on my board to wait.  A few minutes later, I spotted my first turtle out in front of me.  I paddled to it and two more turtles surfaced so I was in the middle of a turtle triangle!  More turtles surfaced around me and I found myself in the middle of a few turtles!  A paddling friend showed up and we had quite a few turtles popping up by us too.  I had counted about fifteen turtles when the pontoon tour boat roared in and blasted us with lovely diesel fuel fumes.  We didn’t appreciate that!  My friend had to leave, but I stayed around for a little while, and got to enjoy three more turtles!  The conditions stayed nice paddling back, and all the way through my swim.  On my way back swimming, I ran across a turtle, so I turned around and swam over it.  Unfortunately it had a nasty tumor growing on the side of its head, covering up one of its eyes.  I swam with it for a little while, and then it swam up towards me and turned around to look at me!  I guess it only had one eye to see with and that was the only way it could see me.  Then it surfaced right in front of me!  I couldn’t resist patting the turtle’s shell…. then I said good-bye and swam back.  Every day is an adventure out in the ocean!

Coming to visit!

It was a nice day for Mothers Day, but the wind was definitely threatening to come in early.  I paddled north to start with and made my turn south,  and then ran into a paddling friend while passing Kam II.  The wind was still threatening to come in from the north, but then it started blowing from the south.  We paddled down to the boat ramp and one snorkeler was there.  I spotted the first turtle out farther, so we headed out to it.  When we got to it, two more turtles surfaced around us and we were surrounded!  The snorkeler was so excited by the turtles and he came up and exclaimed that there were turtles under us….like we didn’t know!  Tourists are so funny.  Turtles continued to surface and we paddled out farther and more turtles surfaced!  I had just counted eight turtles, when my friend announced that she could see white caps coming in.  We paddled back and when we reached Kam II, the wind came roaring in!  She goes in at Kam II, so she was home already, but I had to paddled against the wind and white caps back to Kam I and it was a workout!  I ran into a turtle just as I was leaving Kam II, so I tried to hang with it but the water was getting rough.  I made it back and the wind did not back down.  I swam in the direction of the wind and swam against it coming back and that was also a workout!  I saw something I had never seen before, and I don’t know what it was….but it was this pink creature about ten inches long, that moved like a jelly fish, but didn’t look like a jelly fish.
The edges of the creature folded in on itself  to propel it in a  graceful like motion.  It was so interesting and I can’t imagine what it was!  I didn’t want to get too near it since I wasn’t positive that it didn’t sting.  I will have to do some research on this!  It’s always a different adventure every day and that’s why I love paddling so much!

Turtle buddy!

It was a perfect morning for paddling and I had four more photos left on my camera, so off I went!  The wind was threatening at first, but then it backed off and got perfect.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and there were two paddlers already there, so I sat just north of them, but no turtles were around.  Pretty soon the other paddlers got bored and left, but I hung around.  I spotted my first turtle out farther so I paddled out to it.  It was so friendly, coming right up to my board (see picture), so I got a good picture of it!  The turtles were surfacing one at a time, so I was able to personalize their visits with me…..until they started coming up in two’s and three’s!  I was surrounded several times and a paddling friend joined me, and at one time we had a turtle on one side of her, one turtle on my side and then one turtle surfaced right in-between us!  Before I knew it, I had easily counted twenty turtles, so I quit counting.  More people started to notice all the activity and soon we had quite a group there at the boat ramp!  My friend and I decided to paddle more south, away from the crowd.  More turtles started to surface there too, and I gave up on counting them!  We even saw a school of pretty blue fish too!  It was quite a turtle day…..one turtle surfaced as I started out paddling; then all the turtles down at the boat ramp; and then I ran across a turtle as I paddled back past Kam II!  And it didn’t end there….when I went for my swim, I was headed back when I ran across another turtle!  I swam over it for a while and then let it go on by itself.  It was quite a day!  I can’t wait for tomorrow!

It was almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s conditions……pretty perfect!  Although the wind was threatening to come in, it ended up backing off and paddling down to the boat ramp was super nice.  When I got there, three paddlers were sitting in my usual spot, so I stayed north of them.  I had just sat down on my board to wait, when I spotted my first turtle.  It was out farther so I quickly paddled out to it.  By the time I got to the turtle, five more turtles surfaced, two on one side of me and three on the other!  I was sitting in a sea of turtles!  I brought the camera today and I was trying to get some photos of the turtles.  Three times I sat in-between two turtles, all in a row!  The other paddlers moved on and then there was a lull in the turtles.  Then they started to come up again,  first three all at once, so I was surrounded!  Then two more surfaced and came right by my board.  I think I got some good photos!  Turtle # 18 was playing hide and seek,  popping up on one side of me and then swimming down and popping up on the other side.  It didn’t stop moving long enough for a photo, though.  Then turtle #19 and #20 surfaced and I sat in-between them for a few minutes.  They were just hanging out on the surface of the water right by my board, so I think I got some good photos of them too!  I had been down there for a while, so I decided to paddle back before the boats started coming in.  When I was passing Kam III, I ran into a paddling friend.  We chatted for a few minutes and drifted north.  Before we knew it, we were in front of Kam II!  The current going north has been around for a few days.  She decided to go in and I paddled back to Kam I.  The wind was just starting to threaten again and it got a bit choppy.  Luckily, the wind backed off again, so swimming was really nice too.  By 11:00 a.m., the wind started to come in, but it was coming from the south.  The wind made the beach very comfortable to sit at, until a group of tourists sat right in front of me and started smoking.  That was my cue to go home, which was fine because my husband and I were going out to lunch soon anyway.  It was still a really beautiful day out on the water!  I love paddling!

Gorgeous Day!

When I got up this morning,  I hurried outside to look down at the ocean with the binoculars.  Yesterday was crazy windy from the start….but today I could see white caps way out there….but none in closer to shore.  It was a gorgeous day at the beach too, perfect for paddling!  About ten minutes into paddling, a south wind started to blow, but I headed down to the boat ramp anyway.  When I got to the boat ramp, the wind had completely backed off  and it was perfect there and no one else was there. I had the place to myself!  Suddenly, I spotted my first turtle farther out, so I paddled out to it.  Just as I got to it, another turtle surfaced too and I was sitting in-between them!  Then farther north, I spotted another turtle, so I paddled over to it.  Just as I got to that one, another turtle surfaced and I was sitting in-between them too!  Turtle #4 disappeared, but #5 stayed around and it dove under my board and popped up on the other side of me!  Then turtle #6 appeared on my right, and I was in-between again.  Then something really funny happened, both turtles dove under me and they each came up on the opposite side they had been on….. they just switched sides!  I was ecstatic because every turtle was really friendly!  Turtles#7 and #8 popped up independently of each other and then turtle #9 surfaced and I was surrounded by turtles!  I hung out with about eight more turtles and then decided to head back.  I was lucky to have had the whole place to myself and I missed all the boats too.  Conditions stayed nice all the way back, and it was so nice and glassy that I paddled out to the “Quiet Zone”, and sat for a few minutes before heading in.  The conditions stayed nice throughout my swim too and I took the camera to get some photos.  On the way back, I ran across a big fish (that I don’t know what kind it was), but by the time I got the camera ready, it had swam away.  Then that school of little fish I see sometimes swam past me and again I tried to get a photo, but they were too fast for me!  Oh well, another day!  It sure was a nice day, though,  until the wind came up in a fury and started blowing sand around.  That was my cue to go home!