A New Buoy

Well here we are on a beautiful Saturday and I have not swam since last Sunday. I don’t think I have gone this long without a swim since last Winter or early Spring and mostly for the same reason - rain. Monday I was busy at work then we got out first heavy rain of the season on Tuesday, which means no swimming for a few days to let the water clean itself up. I had hoped to get in the water yesterday but had a bit of a family emergency that kept that from happening. Boy it sure is good I have an outlet for presenting all of my excuses for not swimming. Thanks internet!

Well let me tell you that today’s conditions made the wait worth it even though that doesn’t really make any sense since I would have swam anyways. Good thing that making sense is not an objective of this post. Anyways, today was stellar. It was super cold first thing in the morning, relative to the last few months here, but I had scheduled to have coffee with my uncle in San Juan and then drove to the beach at about 10:00. By that time it is nearly 70 degrees out and there is not a cloud in the sky.

I’m kind of wondering what the water will feel like today. It has come down a touch according to the buoy data but still in the 60’s. Speaking of buoys, I made a very exciting discovery this morning of a new buoy. It wasn’t really a discovery. I did not discover it, but it is a new buoy that had never shown up on the Surfline app before. The buoy is located near shore just south of the San Juan river mouth at Doheny. That is right smack dab in the neighborhood here. This should mean that I have easy access to reliable water temperature data for my swims and don’t have to guess. I wish my dad were alive to tell this to. He would have found this very interesting being such a lover of numbers and nautical numerical trivia (tides, wave height, etc.). That buoy, labeled the Capistrano Beach buoy, listed a temperature of 64. Not terrible by any means but not great either.

I get to the beach parking lot and change into my swimming trunks and then head down the stairs. The water looks absolutely gorgeous. It is mostly calm and smooth and I swear I can hear it calling my name. As I am walking down the final hundred feet of asphalt, I can see a pod of 3 or 4 dolphins making their way north. They are right out in front and I figure they will be long gone by the time I am out there.

By the time I get in the water, the dolphins are still out in front of me but I am well inshore of them for quite a ways. The water feels great. It doesn’t really feel colder than I remember from last Sunday. In fact given the hour of day and outside temperature, I’m sure it is warmer. It’s just so great. My first few strokes felt just a little disorienting but then it was like I had not missed a single day. There is almost no surf here and also almost no visibility below the surface. Still - what there is is just a bunch of stunning beauty.

I’m swimming north today and just before I pass the lifeguard tower below the Ritz, I stop to take in the view and then suddenly hear heavy breathing just before a dolphin emerges just about 10 feet offshore from me. It’s amazing. About three of them are just moseying along north off into the distance. I’m trying to get a picture but it is so hard to time just right with them diving below after just a second of have surfaced. I just stare at them as they head on their way.

I resume my swimming and all the way to the Monarch Bay Beach Club I am perpetually in a state of surprise at how delightful this entire experience is and what good fortune it is to be able to do this on a regular basis. I let my body feel the energy that sits inside the coolness of the water and I gaze out to the horizon and just wonder at the volumes and volumes of energy this ocean contains. I can also see Catalina Island which means the water must be particularly calm right now. Even on a clear day it is hard to see while swimming because of my limited perspective granted to me just a few inches above the surface.

I watch stalks of kelp approach me and brush my skin as I swim by. It’s our way of greeting one another. I don’t see any pelicans today but when I reach my turn around spot at the beach club, I see a seal’s head above the water. At first I think it is a lobster buoy but then I hear it breathing and it clearly has whiskers. Lobster buoys do not possess either of those characteristics. It just remains still where it is and seems to be staring upward towards the sky and then it turns to look at me. After a few more seconds, it submerges itself and I wonder if it is going to come my way but then I see it surface again a little further north. I guess this is where we say out goodbuys. I turn around in the opposite direction and start swimming toward home.

The remainder of the swim is so so nice. I have a beach side view the entire way. There is a stand up paddle boarder riding the small waves near the lifeguard tower here. Soon I am back at the Strand. I don’t want this swim to end but I have somewhere I really need to be soon so I can’t lollygag here. I end up swimming all the way back past my starting spot and end at the little lifeguard station at the bottom of the asphalt road leading to the stairs. I want to milk this swim for as much as I can.

I get out and I’m already looking forward to being here again soon. It won’t be tomorrow because I will be busy all morning and afternoon but I’m hoping the season still has lots more days like these to dispense. It’s impossible to know just how many there are.