Before

Going back and forth as to whether or not to swim today. Conditions are good - small surf and little wind. According to the buoy data, water temperature is up a couple degrees from yesterday - 65. My guess is that yesterday’s southerly winds are helping us recover from the weekend’s onshore upwelling (deeper colder water being pushed to the surface). However I have a ton of work to do. Well, maybe not a ton but more than usual.

There are a few items that absolutely must get done soon and I am able to knock those out as well as my meetings by 10:30. I’ll be skipping my journal writing and piano playing. So I’m out the door a little before 10:30. I figure today will be an unremarkable swim. It is still drab and dreary out and, sure, the buoy says the water is warmer but we’ll just see about that. Maybe the buoy was in one of those warm patches.

I figure I can use an unremarkable swim because I don’t have time to be remarking and editing remarkable photos. Boring will be good today. Let’s just breeze through this and get back to work. I get to the parking lot and step out of the car and the air feels a tad warmer than yesterday. It wasn’t particularly cold yesterday but this is quite pleasant right now even if there is no blue sky and direct sunlight.

The beach is lovely. Yesterday I was so happy with my photos, but I wondered, does it really look this nice? Did I go overboard in the photo editing? Well as I look at the shore and the water right now, there is plenty of color regardless of the grey sky. It is super nice. This is why people love the beach. There is something about all of this that breaths life into our hearts. A gull flies over the shallow water and then plunges through the surface to catch a fish. I love watching this, but feel bad for the fish.

I walk into the water. The waves are even smaller than yesterday and they were small yesterday. It’s almost lake-like. The water is also quite clear here. I can see all the detail of different shades and coarseness of sand and rock. The waves are not big enough to actually get me wet so I have to voluntarily fall into the surface to attain full immersion. I do this and can almost immediately tell things are warmer than yesterday. It feels like we are just about back to where we were this time last week. I don’t think those buoys were lying this morning. They usually don’t.

I swim north today. Ok. This is nice. I’m feeling like I definitely made the right choice to swim today. Conditions are forecasted to sour a bit tomorrow and Thursday with breezier onshores. I’m glad I caught the ocean in a happier mood today. As I move up the beach, it really feels like the water wants to keep me inshore. I continue to try and steer myself seaward but after a minute or so of swimming I raise my head to find myself heading back for the beach. It doesn’t matter much with today’s lack of surf. Worst that can happen is I get pummeled by a two foot wave. It’s hard to say if that is more bad than good.

I’m getting close to the lifeguard tower at the point break here and I will need to gain some more space between me and the rocks or else things could become unpleasant. I manage to do this and soon I am in Salt Creek. Oh my this water is truly wonderful and I just love these clouds. There is this high layer of solid grey and a lower layer of more defined puffs of vapor that look really cool. The water’s surface is calm but not still and moves just enough to add some good character.

It’s not quite April yet but it feels like a summer day here even with the overcast skies. The warmth of the water and the sounds of kids on the beach lends this place a sort of care free spirit. It just occurs to me that this is probably Spring break. Hey, I want a Spring break! Well, I figure I just gave myself one at least for the next hour. Not too bad for a working man.

I keep moving up the beach. I’m trying to completely let go of my thoughts. I want to let my mind relax and melt and spread over the surface of the water here outside of the confines of my skull. Let the sand and the rocks be the objects of its attention. My head turns for breath in regular rythm and I watch the edge of the water move across my field of vision. This water inhabits something so familiar deep inside of me. What is it? I gaze upon the shore and see the sand and the ivy and the houses on the bluff. I feel like I have been here before. Of course I have been here before but I mean BEFORE. I feel as though my self that I know now and the self that grew up here and the self that will grow old here are all moving together concurrently and sharing their thoughts in this one moment.

I swim just past the sand pits and short of the beach club today. I don’t have time for a long swim so I turn around here. It’s not a long swim but not a short one either - just for the record in case someone is taking notes. I guess that would be me.

I’m swimming against the current now. Damn it! I sense that there are some good pictures here. That means I need to spend some extra time writing and editing for the 5 people that will read this. Hey 5! Traffic is going up from the one person who used to read every post - my dad. He may no longer be on this earth but I still know he reads all of these. I love you dad.

The water visibility is super great. This stretch of beach is not exactly the most interesting from a snorkeler’s point of view but it is nice to watch the smooth sand and piles of cobble sized rock here in detail. Every so often things get cloudy but then I stop and wipe out my goggles and things clear up like magic.

I’m getting close to the point and I am farther inshore than I think I am. I linger here for a bit and watch a set of waves pass. Each one gets a little bigger and breaks a little closer to where I am. None are particularly big so I am not concerned at all. The largest one comes and a pair of gulls are skimming just above the crest of the wave. I enjoy this moment and the wave curls just over my head and breaks on the other side of me.

I swim on into Strands Beach. It looks like a lake as far as I can see. The water below is so blue and clear. I can see grooves in the sand beneath me like a Japanese Zen garden. There are a hundred little rock islands between here and my finishing point. I get to where I am right in front of the spot where I started. I don’t want to finish. I think I could swim all the way to the concrete ramp where I will ascend to the stairs. Eventually it just becomes too shallow and I rise to a standing position.

What a gift this is. I can’t wait to look at the pictures on the way home.