Up and Down and All Around
I’ve been trying to get out the door for the last hour to beat the winds but have not been having much success and I’m finally off to the beach a little after 9:00. Well I didn’t beat the winds, but happily the sun beats me to the beach. The morning cloud cover is almost all burnt off and it’s a beautiful sunny day here in Dana Point.
As I drive down Selva, I see a woman running toward the beach just past the Dana Dips. She has this very distinguishable gait and I wonder “who runs like that?” Then as I am walking down the asphalt road just before stepping onto the beach, there she is again right beside me. Well clearly her gait is doing something for her and now I wonder if I should be driving to the beach or maybe I should just run like her.
There is a lot of texture on the water with the onshore breeze flowing. Surfline says 5 knots but I’m thinking their model may be slightly off by a few knots. I don’t mind a bumpy ride today. I’m just glad to be here. There is still just a bit of left over haze out on the distant horizon but it is melting rapidly.
The jr. guards are back after being off last week presumably for the holiday week. This gives the beach a little added liveliness which is good to see on a Summer morning. I get in the water and it feels pretty much the same as it did last I swam on Sunday. It’s cool but not cold and once I start swimming, I am quite comfortable.
Surf is down a notch or two today but the bump is strong. I feel myself being tossed and stirred by the movement of the water. The water visibility is close to nothing. I’m sure there is just as much kelp in the water as Sunday but I sure can’t see it. No matter. What I see above the surface is fantastic. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before but it sure is something I would like to see again and again and again. Both the sky and the water are a rich dark blue and the water’s surface is very much alive and breathing wake after wake after wake.
When I get to the south end of the beach. The water is up and down and all around. As I start to swim north, it becomes clear that I was swimming with the current coming south because I sure am not swimming with it now. It’s just best not to think of how much progress I am making and instead know that progress is being made, somehow, and eventually I will get to the other end of the beach. Still, as I periodically gaze up at the Ritz, it does not seem to be getting any closer. And I gaze at it a lot. Finally it feels like this is just getting ridiculous and I pause to take stock of where I am. I usually don’t like to look towards the shore as I swim north because I like to surprise myself as to my whereabouts and just get there when I get there. However, right now I feel like I need to know. Ok. It’s not so bad. I am at least past my starting point but man oh man this is taking a lot of time and effort. That said, it’s time and effort that I’m happy to give.
I put my head down and try to swim slightly more towards shore because I have drifted quite a ways out. I am swimming and swimming and then BAM! I have hit something solid. I look up and there is Big Bertha sitting there like a bouncer guarding her end of the beach. This happens repeatedly and it never ceases to amaze me. I had no idea the buoy was here in this big wide expanse of water and yet here we are, two specs, slammed up against each other. I ask her forgiveness and spot Big Bob who I know must be near by. There he is but just before I continue I notice that I have already drifted about 30 feet south of Big Bertha which attests to the force of the current.
North I go. Big Bob will be my turn around point before heading home. Finally we meet. I am trying to take a picture of him, as if I don’t have enough, against big Dana Point to the south but I keep drifting into him. I do a sort of half backstroke to gain some distance, take a shot, and head towards my final destination.
What a great swim this was. I was in the water over an hour and 20 minutes. It took me 48 minutes to get from the south to north end of the beach. All the while, such a great time.
