Bethesda

It’s a toss up between running and swimming today. I had planned to run, but yesterday’s run through the hills between San Clemente and San Juan sort of put me over the edge with the heat and all. Today my body feels sapped and I consider a rest day. Somehow I have this idea in my head that a swim will refresh me. The water has been so ideal and I want to take advantage while these conditions last. Maybe I’ll just take a shorter swim? Just as long as I can get in the water.

So I head upstairs to change into my workout clothes. I’m still on the fence as to whether those clothes will be swim trunks or running shorts and shoes. Oh who am I kidding? How can I NOT go for a swim on a beautiful day like today. I’m out the door at about 11:00.

I arrive at the Strand parking lot and it’s a perfect summer day. The sun feels delicious as I walk down the stairs. It’s high tide but there is still sand to walk on. The water feels good. There is a little surf coming in from tropical storm Gilma. It’s supposed to nudge up through the day and tomorrow.

I walk into the water and soon the breaking waves gets me wet to my shoulders and the temperature is super agreeable. I decide to swim north today and begin the journey to Salt Creek.

The water is clearer today than it has been. Still not what I would call super clear but I can watch the ocean floor over the course of the entire swim. I feel like I am making good headway unlike Tuesday’s north bound section. We have a solid, but not disruptive, south wind and that’s probably helping.

It feels like the water just keeps getting warmer. It is utterly delightful. Despite feeling just a little south of optimal today, this water is having pretty much the exact effect that I imagined it would. It’s like the healing pools of Bethesda. I keep a steady and fairly easy pace and just let myself feel this water with every stroke forward.

The water below the surface is beautiful. It is blue - very bright blue. Much of the bottom here is sandy and the golden floor reflects back the sun and the swell kicks up the sand like turquois clouds. It feels like Gilma has brought the tropics here along with the swell.

Just as I am passing the point separating Strands and Salt Creek, I see a group of birds that have congregated ahead of me to the north just about 75 feet or so. I swim ahead to get closer and it looks like they are munching on something. There is some kind of floating fleshy mass that they occasionally fight over. I eventually get a good look and I honestly have no idea what it is and I’m afraid to get any closer because it’s kind of disgusting looking.

I wonder what it would be like to get a picture of the birds from underneath. So I dive down and when I look up I see no birds. I emerge and they are now all flying about me. I feel bad that I have disturbed them but it’s kind of a cool sight.

I keep swimming north and eventually here I am - halfway between the beach club and the Salt Creek bathrooms. So much for that short swim. I’m not going to go any further and I turn around to head back. The trip back is definitely more turbulent but not to an extreme. It still feels like I am going at a good pace even though I’m trying to maintain an easy stroke.

Have I mentioned how warm this water is? All around me, above and below me is blue sky and blue water. I am cocooned in a luxury of nature. The beach looks peaceful and I can see the waves hit the shore up and down the entire coast.

By the time I am back at the point, the water starts to feel extra bouncy. There is a combination of at least three swells in the water right now all coming from different directions. Everything around me feels charged with life.

I get gradually closer and closer to the shore as I creep up on my final destination. The golden sandy bottom makes this look like a super large pool and then an outcropping of rocks or a single rock covered with swaying sea grass sits just beneath me. It looks so close that I should be able to touch it with my fingers but its deeper than it looks.

I reach the shore and the waves seem much smaller then they looked from further out. I head to the stairs and there is the tip of Jupiter’s head popping up from the sand. The lifeguard hut is still closed. Maybe it’s back to a weekend schedule now. When does it shut down? Labor day? Oh the end of summer is coming far too quickly.