Doing Something Right
Oh my goodness, what a beautiful day we have today. Both yesterday and today have been absolutely lovely picture perfect days. I really wanted to get in the water yesterday but I just couldn’t. Work got super hectic and there just wasn’t time. Today is a new day and I leave a little after 9:30 before anyone can call a meeting about some fire that just all the sudden sprang up. I’ll just have to put them out when I get back.
We are in the middle of a late October heat wave here in Dana Point. A heat wave in Dana Point is a wonderful thing. I used to live further inland where they can be far from wonderful. By the time I get to the beach it is nearing 70 degrees out and it’s probably half way to 80 by the time I get out of the water. Boy it’s too bad I have to go back to work because this place sure looks like a great place to spend the rest of the day.
I was just a little nervous about fog. Sometimes the warm air and cooler water don’t agree with one another and create patchy fog which I prefer not to swim through. Last night about 7:00 it started rolling in thick but it was all gone by the time I woke up. Then as I am approaching the beach coming down Selva Road, I can see a thin layer of cloud low over the water about a half mile offshore. I say a half mile but I am a terrible judge of distance. Lets just say it was far enough not to worry about for the next 20 minutes but add a little wind and we could get socked in. I’m just thinking let’s get to the beach quick because I am getting in that water.
As I walk down the stairs towards the shore, it’s just unbelievably nice out. I’m thinking how could I have missed out on this yesterday? I did manage to get a run in yesterday to the beach and back so I know exactly what I missed. It was good but it might be even better now. It’s hard to say. When it gets this good, there is no point in comparing. I’m trying to calculate just what it is about these conditions that bring on this sense of ecstasy. There are plenty of sunny and warm days in the year. Of course they are all precious but this is something special and I’m trying to figure out exactly why. Maybe it is one of those things that defies logic. You just can’t overthink it. It’s a vibration in the air that you can’t see but you feel deeply and when it touches you, things shift and it’s best to just go with it and not analyze.
There is a group of about 20ish 20 somethings on the beach. It looks like they are all business. No surfboards or volleyballs. They have wetsuits and buckets and look generally busy. I see several buoys floating inshore all along the coast near where they are gathered. I’m pretty sure this is either that same UCSB group I saw a few months ago or a similar group studying the fish activity here with cameras attached to those buoys. I love this and I envy them. I wonder if I was 25 again and I knew what I knew now, what is it I would do? How would I spend my time? Well before I get all teary eyed, let me just remind myself that here I am standing on the beach in the middle of a weekday morning. Obviously I am doing something right! It’s a good life.
The water is simply beautiful and calm and the wind is nearly nonexistent. It feels good on my feet. I walk on in and the small waves approach me like walls of molten glass. I start to swim south and it is refreshingly cool and the water grows just a tad warmer throughout the swim.
As I near the south end of the beach, I can see fog hovering over the top of the headlands and hugging the edges of the cliffs around the point. It’s hard to imagine that what I am looking at now could turn into a grey blanket of blinding cloud but I know that it most certainly can. I also know that it could all go away. Whatever the outcome, I’m not leaving. The waves are small enough that I can just remain inshore if I need to keep sight of the beach. Fortunately this turns out not to be necessary. The fog never comes and whatever amount of it there was is gone by the time I am done.
After I start swimming north towards the lifeguard tower, I stop every now and then and just stare in amazement at the beauty around me. I can hardly believe how great this all is. The water is so smooth and the the light on the beach as far as I can see in both directions is golden and filled with color and is so wonderful. I try to just soak this feeling in and forget that there is anywhere I need to go after this. I am trying to capture the essence of my current sensations - this feeling of floating in the clear blue water on a calm and sunny and warm weekday. The water moves about my skin and I stare at the ocean floor and the kelp floating on the surface all around me. I want this all to burn into my brain so that I can carry it with me wherever I go.
