All in Good Fun

Wow. Today was amazing. How does this happen? How are all these days so amazing each in their own special way. I have swam these beaches a thousand times and I think I have seen it all (not really I guess) and then the next day something new and spectacular happens. I can’t say today was better than yesterday, because yesterday was crazy incredible. Today was just so different and exciting and I got to see things I have not seen in a long while and I seldom see.

First the details of the weather. The most obvious thing happening today is clouds - lots of them. While yesterday was like a clear and sunny summer day, today was complete cloud coverage. The other major difference right off the bat was that it was warm out this morning. Yesterday felt so so cold when I walked my dog while today was fairly pleasant. Warm might be just a bit of an exaggeration or maybe not. I mean I wasn’t cold. If it is not cold, does that mean it’s warm? If so, then yes, it was warm.

In terms of conditions on the water, today was pretty close to yesterday. The surf was certainly the same level of calm. I knew this before leaving so I wanted to do something that would take full advantage of the lack of surf. We certainly have our share of small waves here in Dana Point but it is rarely as still as it is now. The water is also not super cold yet so I don’t have to be very cognizant of being in the water for too long or near a spot where I can easily exit if necessary. So this introduces two unique possible swims. I could either swim south and all the way around the headlands to the little beach near the Ocean Institute or I could swim around Monarch and into Three Arch Bay.

Of coarse I manage to totally overthink this over the coarse of the early morning. It’s as if there is a single right and wrong choice and choosing the wrong one would mean I would be forever blocked from living out my true purpose. I will not bore you with all of the pros and cons floating around in my head. In the end, and somewhere between my front door and my car, I decided on Three Arch Bay. I have not swam there since Labor day weekend of 2024 (16 months ago). It’s also a bit safer and potentially less time consuming. I do bring a watch with me today since I’m not as intimately familiar with how long it will take me to get to the northern edge of the bay.

So I leave at about 8:30 and go left on Golden Lantern instead of my usual right turn. I’ll be parking in the next beach parking lot north of the strand. Technically I could swim from Strands to Three Arch. I did that the first time I went and it was the longest swim I have ever swam - about three hours I think. I’m not doing that today. I head down Del Avion to Niguel Road, across beloved PCH and into the Salt Creek parking lot. One unfortunate side effect of parking here is the two dollar fee for my two hour parking limit. It’s ok. I can afford it and this will be well worth the cost. Spoiler alert: this turns out to be emphatically the case.

As I walk down the service road that leads from the parking lot to the beach, there are some light drops of rain coming down. This does not at all deter me. It’s so light I am sure Salt Creek is pumping just as much pollution into the ocean now as it was an hour ago. The beach is beautiful - absolutely beautiful. Sure it’s cloudy, but the grey skies cast a pale light onto the water that bring out different shades of blue and turquoise on it’s still calm surface. There are a half dozen pelicans sitting on the water super close to shore. The small waves here that are only shin high curl perfectly clean. To the south near the headlands, the horizon glows orange. Perhaps there is a break in the clouds just beyond.

The tide is lowish and getting lower. I don’t spend nearly as much time on this beach as I do at strands. While I often cover the same span of coast as I walk to the north end of the beach here, I usually do so by water and not on the shore. Given the particular small number of people, it is especially pleasant. The cloud cover softens the strain on my eyes and so all of the energy emitted from this lovely environment seems to find its way to my inner core.

I am noticing that it is a longer walk than I remember to my starting point. It’s fine. Work is super slow during these holiday weeks so losing a few more minutes won’t be terrible - quite the opposite in fact. I want to start as close to the end of the bay here as possible so that I can capitalize on the more beautiful and visually interesting section north of this beach. Salt Creek, where I am walking now, is a great and beautiful beach but it’s mostly sandy bottom. Once you get to the end, along the edge of the bay, there is tons of rock and Kelp and fish and it is just super special when the water is clear like it is today.

Well here I am. I walk out into the water. It is extremely clear and I am surrounded by unblemished sand. I see some inshore fish here in the shallows. They are white and fairly bulky comparable to a koi fish. I see something else dart away quickly. Was that a sting ray? Maybe but I mostly just see a cloud of sand. The water feels a little warmer than yesterday. I don’t think the air temperature went below 60 degrees last night so maybe that is what I have to thank for this. I’m guessing the water is 62. I lean forward and I’m off and point myself due west where the point meets open ocean.

I’ve only swam this close to the point a few times. The last time was last Summer and the surf was small but still too big to get very close to the small little beach that sits nestled in this bay and inaccessible from the main Salt Creek beach or any public road. I swim to just a few feet from its shore. It is extremely rocky and shallow here and I really don’t feel like getting out but it is also super safe given the gentle water today. Below me is lots and lots of sea grass. It’s elevation is rolling. At times it is just a foot below me but sometimes things open up into a rocky valley with bare sand at its center.

There are plenty of fish here - Garibaldi and some smaller fish both dark colored and silver. There are not as many large protruding rocks here as there are below the headlands a couple miles south of here, but there are a few that rise up just inches above the surface.

As I look towards the end of the point, it is getting close and I see small waves, very small, breaking around an outpost of rock just a few feet off the end. I have not swam here enough to remember if that means I need to swim a wide circle around that or if there is a trench in between. I get closer to inspect and sure enough I can swim right around and super close to the point and inshore of that pocket of rocks because the point drops straight down to the sandy ocean floor at least 15 feet deep. This is cool.

As I round the bend here, there are a few small sea caves that have been carved into the end of the point which looks like smooth sand stone. That rock which wraps around the entirety of this point separating Monarch from Three Arch Bay is lined with these striations that are smooth closer to Monarch and then kind of rough and craggy closer to Three Arch. It is beautiful and I just wonder why I never see photos of this in all the Laguna galleries. After all, I am now officially crossing the city limit from Dana Point to Laguna Beach. I think the answer is that it is not easy for a photographer to get here. Most of the beautiful Laguna photos are taken on the shores between Main beach and Crescent.

The length of the exposed end of the point here is shorter than I remember which I am happy about because there is something slightly terrifying about being in the open ocean here even in these benign conditions. I never want to lose my respect for the water. However I also never want to let that terror fully deter me from submerging myself in the fullness of this vast and beautiful and powerful ocean unless of coarse it is obviously unsafe which it sometimes can be for sure.

Now I round the next corner into Three Arch Bay. I think this bay is so stunningly beautiful and you can’t see it from either of the public adjoining beaches. You have to be a resident to get to the beach by road. This somehow lends it extra mystery and charm. As soon as you come around the corner, a whole world here opens up that you would have never guessed existed. You wonder if the inhabitants maintain any kind of communication with the outside world. I forgot to bring my white flag.

I swim into the bay which is like a huge pool with what seems like nothing but smooth white sand in the middle. It seems like no bad thing could possibly happen here or has ever happened here. I’m sure that’s not true but I don’t want to hear about it. There is a rock that sticks up high above the water close to the southern end and it is littered with pelicans and cormorants. See?! Even the pelicans and cormorants abide in peace together here. The cormorants probably tease the pelicans about their large beaks and the pelicans give the cormorants a hard time for their less than graceful takeoffs and noisy splashing but I’m sure this is all in good fun.

I am now just a few feet from shore and I start to swim parallel to the beach here in the direction of the huge mushroom looking rock with the three holes that give this place its name. A pelican flies off that rock behind me and just hovers inches over the water. There is no way I can take a picture in time but it may have been the most beautiful thing I have seen all month.

When I reach the rock and then end up at its western end, I can see the hotels that line the shore and cliffs south of Main Beach in Laguna. There is a lot going on up there but it is beautiful. I check my watch and I have been out about 45 minutes. I better head back.

There are a bunch of lobster trap buoys scattered about here across the mouth of the bay and when I get close to that southern edge with its striated point, there is a beautiful kelp forest. I feel like I am flying through the trees. I get to the craggy rock and there are a pair of paddlers hanging out just at the edge of the rock on their surf boards. Definitely nothing to surf but lots to see. Along the western edge I swim between the point and another large rock submerged just below the water. I see lots of fish and a big white starfish on the rock.

I turn round this last corner and now I see the entire Salt Creek/Strands coastline. It looks so vast from here. I point myself in the direction of the Monarch Bay Beach Club and I pass by lots of rocks and kelp and fish on the way. This whole cliffside is so utterly gorgeous. I can only wonder what it must be like to live in one of those houses. Perhaps if I survive the next apocalypse, I will settle in one of these estates. It will be great until the neighboring cannibal tribes discover my whereabouts.

I get close to shore and continue to swim south along the edge until I get to the inlet of Salt Creek into the ocean. Don’t ask me why I choose what is likely the most pollution prone spot between here and San Juan Creek as the point where I exit the water. At least it doesn’t smell like that rock with the pelicans and cormorants. Whew that was ripe.

I walk along the beach which is nearing 0 feet low tide and I look out onto the turquois water as I head to the showers at the snack bar. It is so incredibly beautiful here. It looks like it should be cold but it’s not. That makes it extra nice not to be cold. Eventually I reach my car and just as I pull out of my parking space, I can hear rain drops on my windshield. This is definitely in contrast to yesterday’s sunshine but the swim was just as nice for completely different reasons.