Marathon

Fantastic marathon swim today. I didn’t manage to leave my apartment until a little before noon. I technically had the day off so I slept in and then noticed a question someone posed at work. It was a question I knew the answer to, but it was one of those questions that makes one think that this may just be the start of a big drama. A question like, “why is my house on fire?” Anyways this turned out to be correct and took up a couple hours of impromptu meetings. Everything got sorted out and finally I was free to swim.

It actually turned out that noon was the perfect time to head to the beach today. We had a marine layer that did not want to burn off all morning long. It was just receding as I was approaching the parking lot. Walking down the stairs to the beach I could see a large half circle of blue sky right over the water with clouds on the northern and southern ends of the horizon. I’m hoping those will dissolve soon, but all in all it is a lovely warm sunny day here.

The lifeguard station’s posted water temperature is 64. Well that sure beats yesterday’s 58. All of the local buoys are up at least 4 degrees today. I’m betting they will be up again tomorrow. The afternoon winds have been lighter the last couple days.

There is a lot going on on this beach at noon. It definitely feels more awake than it does when I usually arrive. The jr. lifeguards are out in full force as well as many other families with young kids playing in the shallow water. It definitely looks like a good time.

I know I’m going to swim north today. I have lots of time and I am considering maybe swimming all the way to three-arch and perhaps ending with a walk on the beach. The thing is, I’m hungry. I don’t know if I’m up for a three hour swim sans food. I suppose I could eat seaweed but that sounds highly unpleasant and likely unsanitary. Well I know I at least have the energy to make it to the Monarch Bay Beach Club and back, but we’ll just see what happens.

I get in the water and begin the swim north. Surf is small and the water is undoubtedly warmer than yesterday. After just a few minutes (or less) I feel totally comfortable. However my hunger is noticeable. I try to ignore it and soon I’m just lost in th movement of my arms and legs and I actually do forget about my hunger. I stare out toward the horizon and watch the blue water and blue sky and a big big white vaporous cloud in the northern distance.

I cross over the point into Salt Creek and get closer and closer to the beach club. I’m feeling like I have more gas in the tank and I’m just not ready to turn around. It is such a beautiful beautiful day here. I think I’m gonna keep swimming until I get to the end of the beach. Ok. I’m at the end of the beach. Still want to keep going. I’ll just swim along the edge of the bay here and see how things go.

Soon the end of Monarch point is super close and I can see the little sandy beach that is tucked away below the homes on the bluff here. I consider swimming to the beach but there are waves coming into the shore that are not particularly large but not super small and it is getting very shallow and rocky so I stay a safe distance just outside the breaking waves. Water visibility is not great but it’s all super cool. I see lots of Garibaldi and the rocks are neat. There is an outcropping of rocks about a hundred feet offshore of the small beach and small waves are breaking in that area so I try to keep just in between those and the beach.

I’m getting closer to the end of the bay. There is a fair amount of whitewater and breaking waves out on the end and I could swim around it if I wanted to head into three-arch but I’m going to leave that for another day when the surf is even smaller or the tide is higher and the water visibility is more clear. I’ve definitely gotten my fill of adventure and vistas that I rarely get to see.

I turn around and head back in the direction of the beach club. I’m trying to remember how I got to where I was and retrace my route to avoid breaking waves in this very shallow and rocky water. I get a little too close for comfort to some waves and can see the water beneath them recede and expose the rocky bottom. Ok that’s clearly not the direction I want to go. Further offshore I see more white water. Hmmm. Welp. I’ll just try to trace a diagonal path away from the edge of the bay and more toward Salt Creek beach. This works and soon I am in deeper water and I can see the vast southern coastline. The Ritz looks so far away from here. I’m loving this.

The swim back is long yet not. The wind has kicked up and I am definitely feeling the bump in the water and also swimming against the current. My arms are growing tired. My goggles are fogging. It’s getting cloudier now. That window of sunshine didn’t last long. I’m just focusing on keeping my arms moving slow and steady. I know eventually I’ll get there. I’m making progress bit by bit. All in all, this has been totally great, but man oh man I can’t wait to eat.