What Do I Know?

I’ve been doing this for well over 5 years now and I am still continually surprised by how beautiful the beach and the water and the sun can all be. Today started off with dark skies, because it was dark, and I had this picture in my head of how things would look when the sun came up and it was just kind of a normal and perhaps slightly skewed towards a drab kind of a morning. The wind was forecasted to be a little stronger and arrive a little earlier and last night we got a tiny bit of rain. I just kind of figured that the day’s swim would be one that I would just kind of “power through.”

I leave a little before 8:00. By now the light is obviously out. Skies are partly cloudy. There are lots of spaces with blue sky but also lots of very large clouds all over the place. Yesterday we were visited briefly by fog and I am hoping that will not happen today. It’s not looking like it will. The water looks relatively calm on the web cam, but the forecast says to expect 9 knots in the next hour which just doesn’t seem to sync up with what I am looking at. It looks very hospitable.

I park my car and head to the stairs. It is a little cool out but not too bad. I’m expecting the water to be about the same as it was this last weekend when I last swam. The air temperature was warmer last weekend and there were no clouds. It was absolutely amazing. I’m not expecting anything quite so great today but I’m sure it will be fine. I’m very happy to be here after a couple of days of not being able to get into the water.

When I step foot onto the beach I notice that there is a lot of washed up vegetation on the beach. This happens sometimes and I’m not exactly sure where this stuff comes from. It’s not kelp. It’s sort of like bamboo branches. As I mentioned above, we did have some rain last night but it was super brief - like a 5 minute downpour. It doesn’t seem like enough to create much runoff but what do I know?

I am looking around and things are definitely looking quite beautiful. Why should this come as any surprise? It’s sort of the “default setting” here at the beach. The sun has not been above the bluff for long and there are large expanses of cloud over the water creating this sort of tropical stormy effect. I look south down the beach as I am just starting to head into the water and it looks spectacular. It looks like the light is just tumbling off the edge of the bluff and slowly flowing down the side of the hill toward the beach. There are some decent waves in the water and I can see them curling in the direction of this light. It’s as if both water and light are hurrying to meet each other on the beach after being away from one another all night.

I walk out in between sets of waves. The water is cool but pleasant enough. Once I start swimming, it is all very nice. All of those thoughts I had coming down the stairs about this being a crazy thing to do and why am I doing this all just melt away and it becomes incredibly clear exactly why I am doing this and they are all very good reasons. One thing is for sure, the water is not very good about gently sneaking up into your senses. It comes at you in a full and all out run and as you see it approaching, you are just not so sure you can accommodate all of its energy. It seems like it will surely overcome you and topple you over and leave you struggling to recover and stand yourself up.

In reality the initial impact can be somewhat overwhelming and it might, or might not, take some time to adjust to its energy level. However in the end it seems like the water wants to work with you. The water wants to support you and give you what you need. Once you have been assimilated into its energy, this same energy seems to penetrate you in a life giving kind of a way. The energy is not trampling over you but it blends with what is already inside of you and enhances everything. Suddenly everything starts to look and feel better.

This is at least certainly what happens to me this morning and most other mornings. I get out past the surf and everything is amazing. The water is this lovely sky blue and so smooth and I can see these fine ripples running through it as the breeze gently blows from the north. There is both bright and darker light intermingling with each other at the edges of these clouds.

I’m swimming south and I watch the beach as I breath to my left. All the houses look like black silhouettes in front of the sun just above. The water below the surface is dark and murky. I don’t see any fish today and what kelp I do see seems hidden in shadow. Once I reach the south end of the beach, the cliffs of the headlands are black and I trace the edges with my eyes and I find the familiar rock outline as it meets the water. Turning around to face the north towards Laguna, everything looks bright and vibrant. The blue of the water looks extra blue, the golden sand on the beach glows and the hills and houses seem like someone has bumped up the clarity setting. It’s all so beautiful and it feels like the beauty is enhanced by the solitary vastness of the water I inhabit.

I head north and it seems I have drifted offshore a bit and the waves seem so far away. I can feel them here though. I feel them rolling beneath me on their way to the shore. I have to stop every once in a while to take a picture or two or three. I’m afraid I am going to miss something. New things are happening all around me all of the time. Clouds are moving, the sun is rising and the wind is shifting. Where is that 9 knot wind? Things seem very calm from where I am right now.

As I am swimming, out of the corner of my eye I see this sort of lump behind me. It could be so many things: a wake, a buoy, my imagination, a shark. Those last two are usually the same thing. I stop and there is a seal just staring at me. He looks at me as if to say, “why are we stopping?” I hear something in the distance pounding the surface of the water and I look to see a Cormorant taking off with its wings slapping the water. The seal dives below the surface and I wait to see where it goes. Will it come closer? I soon see it further offshore.

I keep swimming and assume the seal has lost interest. Once I am close to the Salt Creek lifeguard tower, at least 15 minutes from my last pause, I stop to take stalk of where I am and there is that seal again. I think it’s probably the same one given that I don’t run into them all that often. I am happy for the company. At each one of these stops I am amazed at what it is that I see. It’s all so beautiful. It’s all so perfect.

I finish up the swim. As I move along the north end of the beach, that cliff below the Ritz just seems to come alive as the light hits it and exposes all of its cracks and crevices. To the south I see that same waterfall of light, I guess that would be a lightfall, that I was watching as I was getting into the water. It’s shooting out to the water in a more direct and straight line now. It just amazes me how if we can just let nature well enough alone and simply take some time to watch it do its thing, it has so much to tell us. I’m certainly getting an ear full right now.