Back in Dana Point today. It has been a sunny morning so far but when I leave my house at 10:30, things are getting hazier and the light looks like it is getting more dim. Still, skies are what I would put into the blue category and I’m feeling oh so ready for a swim.

I get to the beach parking lot and the water looks smooth. I see a few boats about on the water. Lots of cars here at the end near the bathrooms and I park a good ways from my usual spot. There is just the slightest breeze out. I keep my shirt and overshirt on and feel a little bit overdressed.

A car backs out of a space closer to the stairs and I almost turn around back to my car to move into the better spot but realize that’s kind of ridiculous considering I need to retrieve my keys from my lock box and all and I’m already well on my way to the stairs. I head down the stairs and can hear and kind of see the surf. There is some kind of art fair going on at the park at the end of the Niguel Shores parking lot.

Today is one of those days where I don’t find myself at all bothered by the prospect of getting into cold water. I’m eager to get in. Is it the fact that my last few swims have been so pleasant regardless of the cold or that my insides are exploding as I chew over a life changing pivot I am about to make possibly this week. Oh cold ocean, wash me clean! Pierce every pour and saturate every tissue and sinew.

I make it to the beach and the size of the breaking waves don’t seem to match what they looked like from a distance or how they sounded from above. They look much smaller as they crumble into white water.

The abandoned wetsuit that had been lying on the rocks my last few swims is now gone. I hope it has found a good home. I set down my stuff and then head into the water. I’d say it’s about as cold as it has been for the last week. Cold. I welcome it. I feel a temporary lag in my breath and energy level as I adjust but not as strong of a shock as it was a couple weeks ago. Am I acclimatizing or is the water warmer? Who knows? I’m hoping the former is true.

The water feels relatively clean today especially compared to the murky water in Laguna yesterday and some of the red tide we have had here. It is blue below the surface and I can see the ocean floor over much of the swim. I only wonder what it is that I’m not seeing. There was a sewage spill at Salt Creek last week and the northern half of that beach is still closed.

I pass the lifeguard hut and start to pass the mega estates. The water temperature gets a little warmer and then colder again and again and again all throughout the swim. I reach the surf break and I am about 40 feet out past the lineup. I feel pretty perfect out here by now. If I could only maintain this exact internal state, I could swim forever.

I can watch the approaching waves from right here and they look steep and as if they are almost about to break but then they just keep on going and don’t curl until they get to those surfers. I see the surfers emerge from their duck dives out the back side of the breaking wave.

I swim on to the south end of the beach. There are solid sets moving in over the big rock here. I have to swim further out to avoid them. There is a rock I am familiar with just out about 50 feet and to the south that is usually submerged and submerged now but visible at low tides. As the waves move over this rock, white water forms briefly until the wave passes into deeper water.

I turn around and head north now. The entire journey to the northern lifeguard tower is a delight. I feel the cold on my skin like tiny atomic blasts that warm my insides all over my body. I feel like the cold is trying to make contact with a sibling that lives somewhere inside of me. I have no idea what it is saying since its language is completely foreign to me but somehow I know the meaning is passed on successfully to some unknown part of me.

On a couple occasions as I lift my head for air, I see a flock of pelicans fly directly over me no more that 10 feet above. I grab my camera and turn myself somewhat upright in an instant like some kind of a duel fighter grabbing his gun. My hand is cold and it’s a little tricky to click the shutter button and I’m not sure if I even did.

I see a couple lobster trap buoys along the way. Yesterday I was driving back from Laguna with my 19 year old and he was looking up stats on lobsters. They can live past 100 years and the largest lobster ever caught was about 3.5 feet long. I’m guessing that was not one of the local spiney lobsters but I can’t imagine coming across such a large lobster.

I pass multiple kelp trees and then here I am at the north end of the beach. I can feel my internal coldness monitor climbing but I still feel good even though I’m well past the “swim forever” mode. I’ll be done here in about 10 minutes so I don’t have any concerns.

I head back for the finish. There goes another one of those flocks of pelicans. I watch the homes of Niguel Shores up on the bluff pass by one by one. It seems like each one gets a little smaller. They are probably all vacant right now as they enjoy the art fair.

I come to shore as my entire body is buzzing. I head up the stairs and shower off and then as I am drying off, a group of body boarders arrive to shower. They comment that the shower water is cold but warmer than the ocean. I think that is a fair assessment. However, they have wetsuits so do they really know how cold the water is?