Just Around the Corner

I left a little after 9:00 and the skies are cloudy. However, on the Salt Creek webcam, the sky is super bright as if the sun is trying hard to push its way through the clouds. At 8:00 there was quite a lot of mist in the canyons just east of Coast Highway before Crown Valley. So it’s hard to tell where this is all heading. Well that’s not true. I know where it is heading. The sun will come out. It is just hard to tell when. I’m casting my vote for ASAP. It could happen. I just know it.

By the time I reach the beach, all sorts of stuff is happening here. The jr. lifeguards are active at the north end of the beach. I don’t know what they are doing but I see them. There is a pod of dolphins slowly moseying on south just offshore of the little lifeguard station. Finally, there is a small group of folks just north of the ramp to the beach. I don’t really know what they are doing. They seem somewhat organized and many have full wetsuits on.

Surf is up just a bit. It’s no longer a lake here but it is definitely still green flag conditions. The water feels cool on my feet even though according to this morning’s buoy data, temps are up a couple degrees. It’s just never a sure thing if that data will line up with the actual in-water experience here. It is also never a sure thing if how the water feels on my feet will line up with how I feel past the surf. We just have to get out there and see how it feels. I don’t anticipate that it will not be great.

I try to take a picture of the dolphins from the water’s edge but I know these won’t turn out. I’m still 100 feet away from a fin that protrudes just 10 inches out of the water. I head on into the water. Oof it feels cold but I know this is just me growing used to the warmer temperatures. If I could transplant myself into my April body, this would all feel so so warm.

Once I am out past the surf, I see something floating near the surface. It looks like it could be a small buoy but I’m not sure and swim out to check it out. There are two small buoys here. Each are a little smaller than a lobster trap buoy. I look beneath the surface to try and see what they are attached to and there is some kind of odd contraption down here. It all looks like something I probably should not be messing with and so I just move on and wonder what the heck it was.

The swim is great. Things definitely warm up and I just ease myself into the rhythm of my stroke. I head north and as I pass the point separating Salt Creek, I can hear the jr. guards chanting, “Where are we going? Death Star!” I look back and there they are heading in the direction of that buoy. Looks like a fun time.

Over the entire swim I am filled with this feeling of impending change. Like something is coming just around the corner. I’ve had this feeling now for a while and it has been particularly strong this week and gaining in strength. I don’t know what to make of it. Is it a premonition? Or is it just wishful thinking? I do want change in certain aspects of my life. However I have had more change in the last six months than I have had in several years and much of it has been very good so I don’t feel like I can complain. I’m trying to keep my internal radar fully operational, but sometimes I’m just not sure how it even works. I have a suspicion it doesn’t need much user intervention.

I reach the Monarch Bay Beach Club and the sky is nearly sunny here. Fabulous! It’s just so great to be here and the 360 degree view on offer here is quite lovely. I soak it all in and then turn around to head back south. I swim and I swim and I swim. I begin to feel some kind of disturbance on the surface of the water and I look up and this girl on a paddle board is literally inches away from me. A girl and about 30 smaller kids behind her. I am truly startled and we both crack up. It’s a group of jr. guards who just so happen to be hanging out right here. I take a picture, wish them a good day and move on.

The remainder of the swim is wonderful. I spy a bat ray right at the edge of the surf before reaching the shore. As I walk up the asphalt road to the stairs, I chat with a woman who asks what I saw and if I got any good pictures and she tells me about how she and her kids spent a lot of time on Kauai over the years.

When I get to the showers, they are completely full. This never happens. I then recognize this group as the same group who I saw down on the beach when I began. I ask them if they were diving because they have all kinds of gear. So apparently they are conducting a study on behalf of UCSB of the local fish populations. What I saw attached to those two small buoys, was a camera. They are measuring the size and activity of the fish and comparing it to nearby locations over the years. They measure here annually and are finding positive growth. That was all very interesting. I do end up going home without washing off here but the education made it a fair exchange.

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