An Amazing and Magical Thing
I left just a little after 8:30 and it’s about as gloomy as June gloom can get. It’s ok. We have had a good run of early burn off days and it’s delightful to be at the beach on any day if you ask me.
When I step onto the beach, the tide is low and after I dip my foot into the water, it feels a little cold. My feet are a little achey. Welp, it can’t be too bad. The buoys were all down a degree or two, but that’s from 70. Yesterday evening as I was driving down Golden Lantern, I could see quite a few white caps on the water which typically means strong onshore wind which can lead to cooler waters. I guess that’s what happened.
I walk out into the water and a small set of waves are rolling in. I wait as a few break. They are relatively small but large enough that I’d prefer they don’t break right in front of me. Finally I grow tired of waiting and I pick up the pace as I approach the next wave and dive beneath it just after it breaks. I can feel the pressure of the white water just above me and I rise and breach the surface just past the surf.
Ok water is definitely colder. I can feel the coolness in my forearms the most but overall everything is fine. No, we have not returned to the 50’s. This is not a problem. As I swim south, I can feel myself move through warm spots and cool spots and spots in between. The warm feels good and the colder spots can provide an element of surprise but I’m mostly comfortable over the entire swim. I find these temperature fluctuations fascinating. I love how I can physically feel this vibrance of energy rushing over my skin in these sort of pulsating explosions. It is such a visceral and intimate experience. I also notice that my internal difficulty with the temperature is more of a response to the anticipation of cold and not the actual cold itself. For instance, I’ll hit a warm spot and feel the relief of the gentler water but remain in a state of anxiety as I brace for the oncoming cold. Then I realize that I’m actually very much fine.
I eventually reach the south end of the beach and pause for pictures as I always do. I don’t know if anyone has more pictures than I do taken from this spot in the water. As I am wading here, I can feel a warm patch moving into my immediate space and it’s like someone just turned on the jacuzzi jets. Ah yeah. That’s it. Right there. Don’t move.
As I make my way back up the beach to the northern end of The Strand, an amazing and magical thing happens: the sun comes out. Based on the state of the sky when I got here, I had no expectation this would happen, but just after a third of the way down the beach, I can see this blue glow accumulating just over the edge of the bluff. It seems like with every stroke, the cloud cover recedes further and further until by the time I am half way down the beach, blue sky begins to dominate. So great!
The kelp is thick here and I enjoy swimming in between the stalks. I love this. It’s like flying through slot canyons. Fortunately this is much safer than doing that in an airplane. I pause and poke my head above the water and look upon the leaves all around me golden with the glow of the emerging sun. I realize now that the sun can rise, the sun can set, and on mornings like these, the sun emerges. It just sort of fades into existence. I see a lump on the water that doesn’t look like a kelp leaf. It disappears and then reappears about 10 feet closer to me. Oh, it’s a seal. It dives again and then resurfaces in another 10 feet and does this several times. Each time it comes up, it looks over at me. I find this delightful. Then it dives again and I don’t see it come back up.
I reach the northern end and the sun is now out in full force and there is just a distant bank of soft thick white vapor out near the horizon that was once the sky. Everything is so beautiful and it is hard to believe this is still the same day as it was when I got in the water. And then, just 15 feet in front of me emerges that seal again. It stares right at me and then I watch it roll its entire spotted body back down below the surface and I never see it again. Has it been following me for the last 15 minutes? I guess probably. It’s not like it has anything else to do. Well, I actually have no idea what it has to do today, but I’m glad it took some time to spend with me.
After I finish the swim, I walk past the lifeguard station which is now open and I’m curious what is the posted water temperature. Don’t tell me 69 degrees which is what was posted yesterday. I know some lifeguards will just keep yesterday’s temp on the board because how much can the temperature change in a day? Well let me tell you - a lot. Today, they have posted the temp at 62. 62? Maybe a couple of those brief cold spots were 62, but sure…it seems fun to tell myself it was 62.
