More Free

I’m finally able to get into the water today. These last several days it has just been too foggy to swim and when I woke up this morning at 5:30 it looked like it was going to be too foggy today as well. However, things gradually cleared a bit and I could see surf even though here at my apartment it seemed very foggy. I figure I’d just give it a go a little before 8:00.

You just never know with the fog. It can be clear one moment and the next moment you can’t see a thing. The fog moves and seems to have a mind of its own that has absolutely no rhyme or reason or predictable pattern. Yesterday it was sunny as can be at my apartment, but the beach cams were completely socked in. I took a run down the bike trail that leads to Salt creek. It is just as beautiful as can be with blue sky and then it’s not. I mean it is beautiful but not sunny by any means. I pass from one climate zone to another in an instant. By the time I am on the beach, I could tell that it was good that I didi not swim.

Today, once I crest Blue lantern, I can see water all the way to the horizon and I’m feeling confident this is all good. There is still lots of wispy clouds and haze floating about the sky but this all looks doable. What a relief. I have not swum in 5 days. It will be good to get back out there. The thought of swimming feels so foreign right now. It feels like it has been so long. I wonder what it will be like. There has been a fair amount of surf lately and what will the temperature be? On my last few runs by the Salt Creek lifeguard tower, the placard has read 62. 62? The Capo Beach buoy reports 65 and Surfline says 64. Well any of these are fine numbers. 62 starts to get cold but manageable. I’m just going to have to get out there and see for myself.

When I get to the parking lot I see the Sunday morning swim crew which is also often the Tuesday morning swim crew as it is today. The sight of them gives me more relief. I slightly worry (maybe more than slightly) about the surf but if these guys can swim through it then so can I. I walk down the stairs and run into Sharon who I know from Instagram. We chat for a bit and I find this delightful.

I set foot on the sand and my feet soon touch the water. Well it doesn’t feel too bad. It pretty much feels the same as it did on my last swim last Wednesday. I look up and I can see just a little blue sky peeking through the haze. Oh isn’t this nice? I watch some good sized waves moving into Salt Creek. It’s in between sets and relatively calm here when I start to walk into the water. This water really does not feel bad at all. Certainly not 62. The waves seem to be breaking a little further out than normal. Perhaps the sand shifted a bit from last week’s larger swell. It is not uncommon for a sandbar to develop this time of year (usually just a little later) and the waves start to break further out through the winter.

I start to swim and move out past the surf and head south. The water is quite comfortable. This is all turning out to be quite nice. All of the jitters I had on my way over here are melting away. Lately I’ve been trying to learn how to listen to my body. I think our bodies have a lot to tell us other than whether we feel cold or tired. If I find myself wrestling with a particular decision, I’m finding that my body is a pretty good judge of which course is best. However, as I approach the beach, sometimes I find my body tensing up and bracing for cold water or large surf. How do I interpret these signs? Because I know once I am in the water my body becomes transformed and those things that I thought would be terrible and terrifying are not. In fact they are exactly what I need.

I swim south and find my self swimming through these warmer patches of water every once and a while and they are very nice. I’m definitely beginning to agree with that Capo Beach buoy. I’m thinking we are averaging 65 here. The water feels bouncy. It’s actually relatively smooth conditions with a very light breeze. However we have two swells in the water right now. One from the WNW and the other from the SSW and I wonder if I am just feeling the collision of energy from different directions.

I pass the little lifeguard station and start swimming by the large estates nearly on the beach. A wave slips beneath me and it feels like it is near breaking. It curls just past me and I decide it would not be a bad idea to swim just a little further west. The water visibility fluctuates between super cloudy to relatively clear. The warmer spots seem to be clearer as well. It’s a beautiful blue hue beneath the surface and it’s nice to just rest my eyes upon it and and let my mind melt into it. I don’t necessarily give it any thought and find solace in the absence of thoughts.

As I get closer to the south end of the beach, the wave activity becomes markedly more dramatic. My usual turnaround rock is being pounded by waves and it does not seem to be a good idea to be near it so I swim further offshore before lining myself up with the rock. I wade in place here and watch the waves hit that rock and the cliffs below the headlands. It’s quite the sight. There is a lot going on right here and I’m enjoying the show but also looking forward to getting further out of the way. Once I feel like I have seen enough and gotten my fill of the excitement, I head back north toward that lifeguard tower in the distance that I can barely make out from here. It usually takes about a half hour to get up there and today likely won’t be any different.

As I move north and raise my head for breath, I can spy in my aft view the orb of the sun poking through this haze. It shows itself for a little while and then loses itself again behind the clouds. Sometimes it manages to burn a solid hole through the clouds and I can see blue sky and other times it is like a light behind a gauze-like fabric.

I pause half way up the beach and I am looking all around me and then I turn over my shoulder and see a huge flock of pelicans practically right here. They veer west just as they pass me. I love those pelicans. I was thinking yesterday that I have never heard of anyone hunting pelicans. Of course this does not mean that such a thing does not exist. I’m not one to follow hunting trends, but I just can’t even imagine aiming a weapon at one of these amazing creatures. They are so majestic and I just want more of them to be here. It’s not often, but I am always disappointed when I don’t see any pelicans.

I continue north and pass by some lobster traps. Clearly lobsters are hunted here. However last week’s swells took out a few of the traps. Some of the traps are set just a little too close to shore and a larger swell will end up moving them even further inshore and sometimes they get washed up on the beach. I saw one on my run yesterday and it had a dead fish and a really large Turban Snail shell inside. I wonder how much those traps cost. With the rope and the buoy they can’t be cheap.

I’m getting closer to Salt Creek and I can hear the surfers conversing amongst themselves. Their voices sound so close compared to how far away they appear to be. I reach my usual turnaround point just north of the bathrooms below the ritz. I linger here for just a little bit and it is so nice to be here. I wonder how many swim days I will get in this week. Rain is supposed to be coming late in the week and who knows if the fog will continue to cooperate. I’m trying not to be so anal about getting in some quota of swim days every week. I like to get in at least 4 and find that I get all bothered if I don’t manage to get them all. I’m trying to just let that be ok and finding that as I succeed in doing that, I feel more free. I like free. One of the main points of these swims is to experience freedom. If they cause me to feel enslaved then clearly I am missing something.

I head back to where I started and soon find myself swimming to shore. What a lovely morning and how nice this water is especially for mid-November. That could all change with the front moving in at the end of the week. Well let’s just keep holding on for as long as we can.