You are correct. It was carpenter bees.
Yeah, probably the males dive bombing you. I didn’t realize until this thread that they’re stingerless. It has changed my attitude towards them. I was outside working this past week and had some carpenter bees pestering me, but I just ignored them and everything was okay. I actually admire them for their bravery — defending their homestead against me without even having a sting for a weapon. They were also fighting off some wasps in the area, which was helpful. Any time a wasp would slow down to surveille me, a bee would come zooming in and escort the wasp away.