The weather has been getting better by the day here. It’s supposed to hit 77 today. Left the house at 9:45 and the beach was pretty much how I left it yesterday: sunny, warm, light breeze and good visibility in the water. Water is still cold closer to shore and noticeably warmer outside. Surfline had been reporting a water temperature of 63-65 for the past few days but updated to 58-61 today. That feels about right. I also noticed the water getting much colder in the last 100 feet as I approached the rocks on the southern end of the beach. Definitely 50s territory cold.

Overall I can’t complain. In fact I’ll do the opposite. Even at 61 degrees, it was certainly cool but nice. Great vibes in the water. I try to empty my thoughts and just be open to what the water (God, nature, source…whatever you want to call it) is trying to communicate. Today I am thinking of Jesus and love and it just feels so big and wide. There is a goodness here that flows beneath us that is so much larger than we can imagine. I’m always thinking that I need to “make things happen” and if I don’t then I’m screwed. In this water (and often elsewhere) I just feel a presence calling me to yield. I fear that if I yield, I forfeit control and risk ultimate failure. To yield feels like voluntarily falling off of a ledge. This presence claims there is a wind that will catch me and propel me beyond where my own effort alone can take me. I don’t think this yielding means sitting and doing nothing, but following the energy that is flowing around us. I focus on releasing the fear that is holding me back.

No dolphins today, sadly, but there are fish! I see a couple large schools of what looks like brown spotted fish a little smaller than a foot. This one school looks like it could be a thousand fish. The school itself looks like its own organism. Right around this time I feel this sharp pinch on my big toe. I have had this happen a couple times before and I have no idea what it is. Is it a fish? Something sharp in the seaweed? Some jelly fish like thing stinging me? Who knows? But its weird and fortunately not excruciating.

Time to head back to the car. The walk up feels so good. I really like the fact that this beach is not “easily accessible.” The 15 minute walk back is a super nice way to wind down the swim regardless of the weather but particularly decadent in this warmth.

Fish

Feeling

Dolphins