No Mayhem

Well it’s back to the beach at about 8:45. Just before leaving my apartment, I look out the window and sort of lament the lack of sun. Things look completely overcast. Then by the time I reach the shore, there is some significant blue sky developing and I’m pretty confident all these clouds will make themselves scarce before too long. Spoiler alert: they do.

Surf has come down a notch today. I’m still a little nervous after the morning surf report comes out. It says Strands is 4-6. I’m trying to tell myself how NOT big that is. Here is the thing: 4-6 is totally fine. It’s those times when I see the surf report and it says 4-6 and then I get to the water and it is something completely different like 8 to 10. It is rare when that happens, but it only takes once to make an impression. The thing is, I’m thinking of such a day right now and in the end, everything still went off without incident.

Anyways, there are absolutely no 8 to 10 foot waves to be seen today. I head out into the water and make it through the initial little breakers inshore. A larger set comes in and I watch the lip begin to curl on the first just before I dive beneath and come up on the other side. They are beautiful waves. They are smooth and they peel nicely on both sides. It all feels so benign for November. It’s like we have been granted a grace period from the harshness that late Fall can bring. Then again, I have seen several early Novembers like this. Also, Novembers can turn very quickly. It’s all sunshine and smooth semi-warm water and then you look away for just a moment and it’s cold mayhem.

Even cold mayhem is worth heading out for. Well…depending on the degree of mayhem. I can remember so many November/December mornings in cold and gloomy conditions and it was great to be in the water. The water surrounds you and it takes control over your immediate experience. It can be intense but it has something to give you and you are better off after taking whatever it is that is given.

No mayhem here today. It’s nice. The water feels slightly cooler than it did Sunday but not by much. It is still very much comfortable enough. I try to feel the energy of the water in my shoulders and upper back and chest. Well I don’t try. In fact I have no choice because it’s happening. The energy is here…right now…and I do my best to observe.

I swim north. I reach the point break and a gull is resting on the water and waddling by a lobster trap buoy. I look further out on the water and there are several buoys and a couple more gulls about. I take in how fortunate I am to see this. You won’t see this on land. There are so few others who will ever see what it is that I am seeing right now.

The water is not at all clear today. I suppose this swell has stirred things up. I can hear the voices of some of the surfers who must be about 100 feet east of me right now. The voices seem detached from their bodies as if I am catching some rouge signal out here. They might as well be coming from Hawaii. The surfers are hidden by the waves that pass between us and when I do get a glimpse of them they look so small. The voices sound larger than their bodies. It makes me wonder if they are coming from inside or outside my head.

I keep swimming and soon I’m far from the surf pack. I’m having a lot of luck with bird sightings. I love photographing the birds out here. I guess I must be getting better because I manage to come away with a lot more that I used to just starting out a few years ago. However when things come together it still feels more like luck than skill.

Eventually I find myself in front of the Monarch Bay Beach Club. I look south and all of those clouds are but a distant memory. It is such a beautiful day out. There are several stalks of kelp here and it is too murky to see the floor but I love looking at the tops of the vines that are near enough to me to see clearly.

I’m swimming back south and I am thinking about how I have seen so many gulls and cormorants but I have not seen any pelicans. Just at that moment a flock of pelicans races past me just above the water’s surface and they look like they own the place. They probably do. I’m not so lucky on this shot. They are long gone by the time I have my camera ready.

I keep swimming and the water and light are so nice here. This is such a great place to be and I can hardly believe that I get to do this. I have the luxury of leaving my day job, zipping down here, doing this and then in an hour I’ll be back home and on my computer working. This is pretty close to the lifestyle I wanted when I decided to take up computer programming over 25 years ago. Well it took about 20 years to get here and I’m feeling ready for the next thing now. I’m not sure what that will look like exactly but in the meantime this is pretty great.