wildwahinepaddler

Good morning!

It was a perfect morning and the ocean was calm.  I had my pick of parking spots and was out in the water in a few minutes.  It was so nice!  I headed straight down to the boat ramp.  A paddling friend was there when I arrived as well as a kayak with a man and woman on it.  My friend said she had only seen one turtle so we paddled down farther.  The turtles started popping up and we both were getting photos, in fact it seemed as if the turtles were posing for photos today!  I sat between the turtles and there was a turtle triangle as well as being surrounded a couple of times!  It was great!  The only sad thing is that there is one turtle that has been hanging around the boat ramp that has some tumors on it and it is having some trouble breathing……. I know  it won’t last very long with that problem.  That always makes me sad.  Thankfully, most of the turtles we see are very healthy and I counted at least eighteen turtles today!  The conditions stayed nice during my swim too and although the water visibility wasn’t the greatest today……I ran across a turtle while I was swimming!  By 11:30 a.m. the wind came blasting in and that was it for the day at the beach………I hope it’s nice tomorrow!

Hello there Torpedo head!Well

Well, after six days of no paddling…..I was more than ready to get back out there!  I woke up to a gorgeous day and wasted no time getting down to the beach.  I got a front parking spot right away and I was in the water within a few minutes!  It was so nice.  Just as I was paddling out, I heard the lifeguards announcing that they were putting out the red flags.  For what?  I have no idea.  There was no shore break and Kam 2 & 3 did not have any red flags out!  Oh well, there is a tropical depression that has picked up strength that could drop some rain as it moves past us to the south, so maybe they were just looking ahead.  Anyway, it was very nice out on the water and I headed down to the boat ramp.  I paddled this odd glassy path on the water all the way down too, it was very strange indeed!  The conditions stayed nice and my first turtle of the day popped up at Kam III.  Down at the boat ramp I was greeted immediately by “Torpedo Head” and I got some photos!  The turtle shot its head out of the water a few times and swam around me.  I was pretty surprised that I got the photo above!

Hello!

The turtles kept coming up.  I sat between them, by them, and surrounded by them!  It was great.  I know I counted over twenty turtles for the day!  I really needed some turtle time today too!  I paddled back in nice conditions and it stayed nice all the way through my swim.  Not as clear as usual down by the reef, but I did see lots of fish!  The water is so warm, it must be more than 80 degrees!  It’s very windy now, but it was a gorgeous day for paddling today!

Are you number twenty or twenty-one?

Morning buddy

Wow…..I can’t believe we got two really nice days in a row!  It was just beautiful.  There was a breeze blowing from the south just like yesterday, so I headed down to the boat ramp.  I had the place to myself!  The first turtle surfaced and then dove down under my board but then I spotted another turtle farther south.  Just as I paddled up to the turtle, two more turtles popped up and I had a turtle triangle going on!  I managed to get a couple of photos but four turtles was it for today.  The wind backed off just like it did yesterday and it was so calm.  I didn’t take the time this morning to check the wind conditions so I decided to paddle back while it was still nice.

So glassy!

It stayed nice all the way through my swim too…..only getting a little windy on my way back.  Can we make it three nice days in a row?  I hope so…….but the road work on South Kihei Road is awful!  I might have to go somewhere else tomorrow…….

Nice day!

Lately, it seems like we have one nice day and then a blustery, stormy day the next.  It was so windy and stormy looking yesterday, but today was really nice.  The ocean was totally calm, but the breeze that was blowing was coming from the south, so I just paddled against it.  I figured that if it was blowing against me, it would be blowing me home later!  There were hardly any paddlers out so I wondered if people thought it was going to get windy……but I wasn’t complaining having the ocean to myself!  I paddled down to the boat ramp………

Good morning!

I only had four turtles visit me today…..but I managed to get this photo of a really small turtle.  They are difficult to photograph because they can dive down fast!  This one actually hung around for a few minutes and then another turtle surfaced on the other side of my board and I was in between them.  Then one of them dove under my board and a third turtle popped up in front of me!  I was happy to get four turtles for the day!  I paddled back with the wind gently pushing me forward…… just like I had hoped for.  The view of the West Maui Mountains was amazing!

Beautiful!

The wind cooperated and stayed about the same while I went for my swim.   Despite the storm that moved over us a few days ago….the visibility in the water was great!  I hope it’s nice tomorrow!

Seven turtles!

Well it was a long week……no paddling due to crazy ocean and weather conditions…..but finally today was perfect!  It was crazy windy yesterday and it poured rain Saturday night and Sunday morning…..but today was perfect!  I was so happy it was a beautiful day and I headed straight down to my spot at the boat ramp.  No one was there, only me!  I had seven lovely turtles visit me and one of them was “Bumpy”!  It was amazingly calm and perfect and the water was pretty clear despite the storm.  It stayed nice paddling back and all the way through my swim!  The clouds did start to loom in though so I don’t know if we are done with the rain yet.  Unfortunately the county is digging up South Kihei Road for some reason and the noise is awful!  I hope the project is done soon.  I was more than ready for a perfect day of paddling and swimming!  I hope tomorrow is nice too…….

Just beautiful!

Earlier in the morning I watched the wind coming and going and wondered about the conditions at the beach.  To my delight, the ocean was calm when I got down to the beach!  I hurried to get out there and threw “caution to the wind”….. paddling straight down to the boat ramp.  The conditions were perfect and the ocean was so glassy and nice!  At the boat ramp I paddled right up between two turtles……as if they were waiting for me…..then a third joined us and then a fourth turtle joined us and I was surrounded!  The turtles put on a show for me and kept popping up!  I got some good photos with my iPhone too.  Before I knew it, I had counted eighteen turtles for the day!  I even saw “Bumpy” and “Torpedo Head” today!  The water was so glassy and calm…..I couldn’t believe it after such a windy morning yesterday.

Hi there Bumpy!

I hung out down at the boat ramp as long as I dared…….and paddled back in still perfect conditions!  What a great day!  By the time I went swimming, though, it all changed and the wind came up in a fury.  It was a bumpy swim and the visibility still isn’t very good, but the water is 80 degrees!  I hope tomorrow morning is just as perfect!

Crowded at Kalama Park!

It was a beautiful day but it was windy from the start.  The wind was blowing from the north so I paddled north down to Kalama Park.  There were quite a few people there because there were some waves…..but I stayed just outside of Kalama.  I didn’t see any turtles today but the conditions were so bumpy so it was hard to see anything.  I wasn’t sure where all the bumpy swells were coming from but at times I felt like I was paddle surfing!  It was just one of those days that you have to paddle constantly or the wind decides where you are going to go!  There was a really high tide earlier in the morning and that had stirred up the water limiting visibility too.  I paddled south and then the wind changed and was blowing from the south!  The wind kept changing from one direction to the other and just couldn’t decide which way it wanted to blow.  I paddled for about an hour and then came in because the wind was not backing off.  The wind continued through my swim and water visibility wasn’t very good…….but the water is so warm!  Then just as I was sitting in the sun drying off…..the wind came in from the north in a frenzy and sand started blowing.  It was time to go home!   I hope the wind comes up later tomorrow……..we’ll see.