Tempered Expectations

Based on the forecast last night, I knew today was going to be breezy. I don’t have my usual 6:30 meeting on Fridays so if I could leave by 6:30, I’d likely be back in time for my 8:30 one on one meeting with my boss. The earlier I can get in the water, the calmer it is going to be. However 6:30 is tough to make if I want to get through all my morning routine. Besides, a little bump on the water isn’t going to kill me.

So I opt out of the 6:30 window and I get called into an impromptu customer call that lasts an hour and I have to cancel my scheduled 8:30 meeting. I’m out of here at 9:30 and the wind is definitely picking up from what I can tell on the web cam. By the time I cross Blue Lantern on Selva Road and can see the water, there are white caps all over the place. Yep, it’s going to be a rough ride today, but you know what? Bring it. I’m totally up for this.

Other than the wind, it is a beautiful day. It’s very similar to yesterday with lots of sun and lots of textured and patterned clouds. It actually sprinkled just a little earlier this morning as I was walking my dogs. Temperature isn’t bad at all - probably mid 60’s.

I park my car and head down the stairs. The water is dark blue and lots of texture. There is more blue sky to the north and clouds to the south. Its a beautiful day at the beach by the time I show up on the shore. Like yesterday, waves are nearly non-existent even though the surf report clams this is the largest day of hurricane Priscilla. The report does ask the reader to “temper expectations.” Definitely some extreme tempering in order here.

I walk out into the water and start swimming south. The temperature might be down a degree but who can pay attention to the water temperature in this turbulence? I feel like I am swimming in a circus whatever that would possibly feel like. I’m being pushed and splashed and I feel like one of those lobster trap buoys bobbing around on the water’s surface. I’m just this spec of buoyancy at the mercy of the wind and sea. I’m wondering how this is all going to go after I turn around and head north right into this current. Right now I ride with the flow and it’s like the ocean is taking these slow and steady breaths that push me forward on each exhale.

Despite the movement of the water, visibility is not terrible. I watch the sandy bottom with the intermittent rock and kelp tree all the way to the end of the beach. Here I am and I hang out here for a couple minutes to take in the vistas and just soak in these conditions. There are wakes of water all over the place. I’m preparing myself for that northbound leg. I am tempering my expectations. This could take a while. Here I go.

Oh man it is a roller coaster ride and it is glorious. No deep thoughts today. All of my attention is stolen by the movement of the surface of the water. I love it. I swim right into face after face of wake after wake and my body is lifted over the crest and slams down the back side. I lift my head for air and more often than not I am met by a sheet of cascading water over my face. Who needs to breathe?

I focus on the shadows that I see on the ocean floor. With every new rock, it becomes my goal in life to get to that rock. Then my next priority is to find the sandy space on the other side and then on to the next rock and on and on and on. I’m making more of an effort than usual to stay reasonably close to the shore. There is not much in the big wave department to look out for and I’d prefer to be tossed about within a clear view of land just to provide some peace of mind in the midst of this delightful chaos.

My progress seems to move along faster that my expectations were tempered for. It might just be that I am distracted by all the action here and don’t really have the chance to ask “are we there yet?” Well soon enough I am practically there. I stop for a rest about a couple hundred feet from my northern destination. I feel pretty worked and I love it. I take a couple breaths and a couple pictures and I am on my way again for the final push just south of the lifeguard tower.

I manage to make it and head back to finish swimming with the current again for these final 10 minutes or so. I just love this. My thoughts blend with the swishing and sloshing of the water. My thoughts become like water. Brain wave and ocean wave become indistinguishable from one another. There is sand and seaweed and sun and cloud and I find my atoms dispersed within all of this. The patterns of clouds above me become the expression of my consciousness. I’m no different from these stray bits of kelp floating on the water. I’m just another one of those odd little ocean things one finds in the water.