wildwahinepaddler

Wow!   What a nice day!  Seven turtles!  The conditions were perfect and the vog wasn’t too bad.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and I had the place to myself.   Soon a turtle popped up but then disappeared.  Then another turtle surfaced right by me.  I was sad when I saw that one had tumors on both sides of its mouth…… But five more turtles surfaced including Bumpy and little Rascal!  It was so calm there.  After a while…. I decided to paddle back.  It was nice going back too.  My swim was great as well .  It was just a really nice (but hot….) day!  I’m sure the vog will increase as the day goes on as the trade winds are not expected to return until tomorrow or Friday…..

After getting rained out unexpectedly yesterday……..today was extra nice!  It actually did start out windy from the north but the wind backed off nicely as I passed by Kam 2.  Then it got really nice.  I had company down at the boat ramp though….. Two Japanese tourists on rented boards and a kayak with a man and woman on it.  Only one turtle surfaced to visit today and it sure was friendly!  I only got two photos so I was glad the photos were not blurry.    I paddled back in nice conditions and then spotted one turtle by the rocks at Kam 2.   It stayed nice throughout my swim too. The winds are backing off as predicted and already I’m seeing signs of vog creeping in…… Hopefully we’ll get a good sunset out of it!

Nice!

It didn’t start out windy!  In fact….. It was perfectly calm.  It was such a beautiful morning!  I headed for the boat ramp.  Paddling was great! Down at the boat ramp I saw two turtles …. But neither one stuck around today.  I was just sitting there enjoying the scenery when suddenly the surface of the water changed.  It was early but I wondered if the wind was coming in.  Sure enough….. A few minutes later….. I was paddling against wind!  The water got bumpy.  It was too choppy to go close to the rocks at Kam 2 today.  But as soon as I headed into Kam 1….. the wind backed off and it was really nice again!  By the time I went swimming, though, the wind had returned so it was a bumpy swim.  Oh well….. It was just a windy day but still very nice………

I never would have thought this day was going to be so perfect!  It was windy from the East when I went out and fairly strong.  In fact, it took me nearly half an hour to paddle down to the end of Kam 2!  I was tired and thought about turning around…… But suddenly the wind backed off and I kept paddling.  At the boat ramp the turtles were slow to come up….. First just one….. then two with me in the middle!  Then the turtles started popping up like little jack- in the boxes!  Two turtle triangles!  I counted ten turtles in all.  I paddled back and spotted a turtle over by the rocks at Kam 2.  Unfortunately it was being crowded and harassed by two tourists.  So many turtles lately!  It started to get windy again when I came in but backed off again during my swim.  I saw Moorish Idols, Trumpet fish and a really little baby Puffer fish!  Then the lifeguards closed the beach due to a shark sighting!  I’m glad I was all done with my swim!

Nice!

Well it was another nice day!  It was windy though….. From the south east….. certainly not the perfect day like yesterday.  It was still nice and it’s always a joy to get out paddling!  I headed south but when I got down to Kam 2….. There were lots of wind swells pushing from the north.  The white caps looming out there told the story.  So wind swells from the north and wind from the south/east!  Interesting combination.  It was fun paddling over the swells but the thought of that happening all the way to the boat ramp didn’t appeal to me….. Especially paddling back.  I turned and paddled north down to Kalama Park and watched surfers catching some small fun waves.  No turtles spotted down there today…but on my swim…. I swam with a turtle down to the rocks at Charley Young Beach!  While we swam ….another turtle passed us swimming south.  What a friendly turtle!  It surfaced by me three times and swam right next to me looking right at me!  It was so neat.  Then when I swam back…. I ran across another turtle swimming north.  Wow… Three turtles in one swim!  That had never happened before…. And the wind never let up either…….

Pretty nice!

What an amazing day!  I’ve seriously forgotten how many days I’ve been out paddling in a row….. and that’s a good sign.  It actually seemed like it might be windy this morning…. But the wind backed off nicely.  Down at the boat ramp I had eleven turtles!  I sat between turtles ….. Ended up in the middle of five turtles……and had so many turtles coming up to visit me!  I got so many photos too.  Just one other person paddled by and she was annoying! I’m sitting in between five turtles and from a distance she yells “Are those turtles?”  and then  yelling again “Are you sitting in the middle of turtles?”.   I really didn’t want to answer her and break the spell of the turtles!  That didn’t stop her from interfering though….. She came over and proceeded to get in the way of my picture taking. Oh well!  Luckily she moved on but after counting eleven turtles I decided to paddle back. But before I left a strange thing happened ….. A bird flew onto my head and then landed on my board for a few minutes!  I didn’t make any quick moves and got a photo of it!  That has never happened before!  When I passed Kam 3, another turtle surfaced! Then down by the rocks at Kam 2 I spotted two more turtles and then one swam under me as I paddled in at Kam 1.  That made fifteen turtles total for today and one bird!  Crazy.  The conditions stayed nice while I swam too!   The wind didn’t start coming in until 11:00 a.m. either so it was just a perfect morning!