wildwahinepaddler

Beautiful daybreak….. moon stil out….. beautiful day for paddling!  It was not quite as perfect as yesterday but nice enough.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and met a paddling friend there.  We hung out for a while but no turtles joined us today.  I paddled back in good conditions with just a few white caps kicking up behind me.  My swim was nice too in clear water and a turtle joined me…… I swam with it north until it headed out farther than I wanted to go (I’m sticking closer to shore right now after the shark attack the other day…).  It has been so nice the last two days though!

It could not have been nicer!  Just gorgeous and perfect paddling.  Some people thought I was nuts going out on my board after the recent shark attack….. but hey….. the sharks are out there and always have been!  The water was super clear and I could see down to the bottom of the ocean.  Down by Kam 3, I could see so many fish swimming around!  I stopped short of continuing down to the boat ramp because I was later due to a conversation with one of the lifeguards.  The conditions were great!  I paddled back and still not too many people were venturing out into the water.  I understand their fear though.  I swam much closer to shore than usual and found myself really looking around!  I was swimming south and ran across a baby turtle zipping along so I swam to catch up. When we reached the reef ….. the little turtle turned around and then hung around with me!   I think by the time we reached the reef…. it felt safer and mellowed out.  Lots of places to hide if need be….the water felt wonderful!

Peaceful start to the day…….

Just beautiful!

Wow….. well the day started out fairly calm.  The Vog pretty much has blown out and away from us too.  The white caps were looming in the distance though…… just waiting to come in.  The ocean wasn’t very calm either…… the wind out there was sending in some choppy swells.  The day was beautiful so I decided to go out paddling anyway.  I didn’t want to get too far away so I paddled down into Kam 2.   The water was choppy so I turned around to go north.  I was headed down to Cove Park when I noticed no one was in the water!  Then J spotted a group of people down at the south end of the beach yelling something.  As I got farther north I saw another group of people gathered around on the shoreline fronting the Lifeguard tower.  The lifeguards appeared to have someone laying on the beach.   My first thought was someone must have drowned or had a heart attack…… but then I could hear the other people yelling “Get out of the water!”   Then I knew it must be a shark!  I made my way in and went over to see what had happened.  It was someone I actually knew from the beach who is at the beach nearly every day!  It looked like she got bit up pretty good and the lifeguards were wrapping her leg up.  Then the police and ambulance showed up and the woman was loaded up on the ambulance and taken to the hospital.  Lots of excitement!  Well of course then they closed the beach!  I had to drive down to Keawakapu Beach to get in the water and there were waves rolling in there.  Oh well, it felt good to get wet!  I bet they don’t open the beach until after noon tomorrow……. looks like no paddling for tomorrow…..

Beautiful morning!  I got a late start so I just swam today but I did get to swim with a turtle!

What a perfect day!   Except for the Vog that has crept over from the Big Island.  Every time the trades back off…. the Vog creeps in.  It makes my eyes water and itch and if it persists long enough I get a cough….. no fun.  If I can’t see the island of Lanai….. I know it’s bad and no sign of Lanai today.  Hopefully it won’t last long!  Other than that…… it was a perfect turtle day!  I paddled down to the boat ramp and although I could see turtles hanging around the ocean bottom (water was super clear!)…… I had to wait until they decided to come up.  Well they did!  Fourteen of them and eager to pose for pictures!  It was so much fun….. but I worried about two of them.  One had tumors by its mouth….and another one seemed be taking labored breaths of air (but no apparent reason).  The rest of the turtles looked very healthy thankfully.  Even Bumpy showed up to say hi!  We were having the best time until a guy paddling by decided to be a stupid ass. I think he was showing off for his friends…..yelling at me saying to stay away from the turtles!  Telling me I wasn’t giving them space?  What a stupid idiot!  The turtles were surrounding me and they had all the space they could want….. they don’t come up otherwise!  I told him where to go…… yup…. and to mind his own damn business!  He must have been jealous of my turtle party.  Too bad for him!  Anyway….. his bad “ju-ju” didn’t ruin our day.  It stayed totally nice all the way back and throughout my swim….. and yes….. I ended up swimming with another turtle!  That made fifteen turtles for today!

Maui is definitely my happy place…… especially on a turtle day!  After two days of shore break and shark sightings….. I was ready for a calm turtle kind of day.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and I had the place all to myself!  It was gorgeous!  Five lovely turtles came to visit me and I was so happy to see them.  I paddled back with just a nice breeze keeping me cool and hated to come in because it was so nice.  I had an equally nice swim in clear water and down at the reef I spotted a huge Puffer fish!  I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen one quite that big before…… it was the size of a baby dolphin!  I followed it around for awhile until it got annoyed with me…… they don’t hesitate to let you know!  I hope tomorrow is just as nice as today was…..

Wow!