Nirvana

It’s looking like this is the last window of opportunity to swim for several days as rain is predicted for the next several days. In fact today was looking dicey in the beginning of the week with rain and wind expected but take a look at these pictures and you will notice that something else happened instead. Something wonderful. Grace fell from the sky and landed with such wonderful conditions it was hard to wrap my head around the fact that we are in the middle of November. I mean it was just spectacular. I can think of many days in July (most in fact) that I would have happily given up for this day.

It looked like there was some fog potential around dawn and then that turned into a big receding low cloud bank heading north west out of Monarch and the rest of the morning was pure magic. I’m looking at the web cams during my morning meetings as a well of anticipation is mounting. The water is blue and the sky pink and the surface is completely smooth. At about 8:30 I walk my dog and it is comfortably warm out. It is 68 degrees as I head out the door at 9:15 for the beach.

As I am driving to the parking lot I can just tell that conditions are ripe for a swim. Unlike the last couple days, there is no haze in the sky. Clouds - yes, but they are solid, finite masses of vapor. Ok maybe not so solid but from down here they look solid enough. After I get to the parking lot and begin to head down the stairs, the water looks so blue and the sky just looks happy. And it is happily sharing its happiness.

Once I am on the beach, I can see the surf is a little smaller today but what waves that are here are absolutely beautiful. The sun hits there blue faces and reflects off of them like mirrors and the waves curl into perfect crystalline barrels. The tide is on the lower side and the water feels like it has all week which means it should be quite comfortable. I feel like it would not be inappropriate to call 911 and ask for an all-points-bulletin be issued urging all citizens to head for the beach. Too bad my phone is in my car.

I’m snapping photos as I walk into the water and overcome by what I am seeing but miss the fact that a head high wall of water is breaking right in front of me and nearly knocks me over - not that that would have been a bad thing. Please knock me over. In no time I am off my feet and swimming underneath the next curling wave right in front of me and I can feel it collapsing onto the water as I pass beneath it.

I’m heading north today. As I get closer to the main break at Salt Creek, I can see the curling waves that look small in the distance. Beneath the water here I see schools of small translucent fish swimming towards the surface. Everything is beautiful. Everything.

I proceed north and just let the water glide over my skin. I swim through cooler (but not that cool) cloudy spots and clear warmer spots that feels around 66ish. I wonder what the Salt Creek lifeguard tower says the temperature is. I spoke with a lifeguard this summer that said the numbers reported from that tower were very dependable. I’m not exactly sure why that is. Do they have better thermometers?

Like yesterday, the water is clear. I see lots of fish and kelp and rocks and it is all just a delight to look at. I come up for air and stare out onto this vast beautiful plane of light and blue. It goes on to forever and it is like staring into infinite joy. Certainly if I were to point myself into that horizon I would eventually reach nirvana.

I keep swimming toward the Monarch Bay Beach Club and I stop a couple times in between and it is hard to believe all that I am seeing. I try to imagine what this will all look like tomorrow at this same time. It will probably be unrecognizable. Right now it is utterly amazing and I just feel so lucky to be here.

I linger in front of the beach club for a while and just take this all in. The water is so clear and as I look down towards my feet, I can see the leaves and vines of kelp that are hugging my legs. There are terns chirping as they fly quickly out to sea past the lobster buoys until they are out of sight.

I swim back and let my heart refuel itself with this water and light. I was in pretty good spirits when I got here and now my tank is definitely topping off. I wonder why this is. I mean of course there is the obvious physical phenomenon here around me but when I think about the actual events surrounding me here as opposed to the ones present when I have been in despair out here, they really are not that much different. I am buoyed up by the impending sale of my house and nearing finalization of my divorce. Somehow these two milestones form this threshold in my mind that I yearn to cross.

I’m just feeling all the feels here. It seems like there is something special about the exact hue of this light and the level of its luminosity. Somehow we have found the sweet spot. After eons of experimentation we have finally discovered what it is that the human psyche craves. Now we just need to figure out how to synthetically reproduce these ingredients so that they can be triggered at will. My guess is that the synthetic equivalent just isn’t going to have the same effect.

I reach the end of my swim and find myself taking picture after picture in some kind of futile attempt to preserve this moment in time. All the way up the stairs it is all I can do to keep myself from grabbing all passersby by the shoulders and urging them to get into the water as soon as they possibly can.