Are Those Clouds?

Leaving the house at noon. It’s only 60 degrees outside but I’m so warm when I get in my car that I preemptively remove my upper layers before heading off.

I arrive at the Strand parking lot and it’s yet another beautiful day here. Pretty much a pure blue sky and the sun sparkles on the water out to forever.

I get out of the car and bring my pack down but I feel very comfortable in the sun. It’s odd to me how some days in the mid 60’s I feel chilly but today it teeters on 60 and it is delightful. The weather and how it makes us feel, I suppose like the ocean, is a dynamic system. There is wind, the angle of the sun, oh and also the fact that the temperature on our phone might not actually be the temperature exactly where we are at - blasphemy I know.

The beach looks pretty much the same as yesterday. Maybe a bit less surf. Maybe a bit more blue water than sandy brown. Same high tide. It was a 6.5 high two hours prior. We are in king tide season (extremely high highs and low lows). I saw this news report the other day from one of the local television stations that was talking about some San Clemente sand replenishment set backs and it mentioned the high surf and then blamed the king tides as the cause of the large swell. Now that’s fake news! King tides do not lead to large swells. However they can exacerbate the damage brought on by a large swell which I think was one of the key issues in that article.

I set down my pack and get in the water. A few steps in and I stand at this precarious point where small waves rise and break right on the sand and rock. Oddly if I take one step back, I am pelted by the force of the water and the rocks, but right here I am just ahead of the impact and the water’s activity feels soft as it rises and explodes behind me. Just a few more steps forward and the water level is chest high and I start to swim.

Oof. My arms feel like they are on fire. An unnatural fire. For the first few minutes I feel a lethargy fall on all my appendages. A bird flies over and I quickly grab my camera and attempt a shot (which I fail). Oh I was not ready for that. That pause in the water. I need to keep moving until I can get through the funk of this cold. When will that be I wonder. Things seem to stabilize by about the time I reach the boardwalk.

Yes the water does seem more blue today. I still really can’t see much but it feels like there is less “stuff” in the water. The initial southbound leg seems to pass quickly. I think that if the northbound trip goes just as quickly, this is all going to be over in a flash, but that is not how things transpire. Time seems to slow at the same rate that the cold takes hold of my core.

I don’t know but it feels colder today. I’m sure it’s not and it is just my body’s reaction to the cold. I just have to keep swimming. I get closer and closer to that cliffside that is indelibly etched into my vision. It’s like an image that gets burned into an LCD screen if left there for hours and hours.

As I look out onto the horizon, I see clouds that refract the light and create seemingly different designs and patterns every time I turn for air. The clouds are super thin and whispy - almost unnoticeable if looking at the sky on a macro level. Heck, are those clouds? I don’t know. I’m just some freak having an experience out here. I fall into thoughts and day dreams and get lost until I wonder if I am having an actual dream and then I try to gain some kind of dominance over the thoughts. I try to wake myself with the assertion of my will.

Something about the arms today. My arms are…well they are cold. I think of Shackleton and his crew on the ice floes of Antarctica and the poor guy that fell through the point where one of the floes split. How cold did he feel? Do I even want to know? There was no towel waiting for him on shore. No pot of coffee to be brewed just a short drive away.

Just as I reach the end of the swim, right before I aim east and make the final swim to shore, I pause for a couple pictures and then am surprised that my feet touch a sandy bottom. I’m fairly well out. This must be the sandbar where the waves are breaking.

I make my way back to my pack. I decide to walk all the way to the top at the parking lot before showering and toweling off. The reason being the quality of the showers up top exceeds those below. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to public outdoor showers and demand the best quality available. I shower and then see the shade I need to stand in to unlock my car door. Can’t do it. Gonna need to dry off right here in the sun behind my car and put on a sweatshirt before I even touch that shade.