Booties?

After the stress of yesterday’s surf incident, I was not really thinking I’d be up for a swim today and ready for a break from the water. Well I wake up to a new day. Also, the temperature is due to drop tomorrow and it’s supposed to be pretty windy all day Friday so today is gonna be the ideal swim day of the work week.

Ideal indeed. I’m finally able to leave at about noon and the sky is cloudless and the air is warm. I’ve been studying the webcams and surf looks like it is down a couple notches from yesterday.

Even as late as noon, the wind is pretty calm and the ocean surface looks pretty tame. When I get to the parking lot, the shade is starting to dominate the stairway path to the beach and it is a bit on the cool side but nice enough.

I step onto the beach and it is definitely a different beach than yesterday. I mean yesterday wasn’t bad, but the waves had a sort of aggressive energy to them - even the smaller ones. Today things seem much more subdued and benign. The surf report posts the same size: 3-4 feet but today I can believe it.

The tide is low and getting lower. I walk out into the water and then dive into and under a breaking wave. The water feels cool and looks clear. I keep swimming a little further out than I need to just in case some rouge set of waves decides to roll in but things are looking and feeling much more normal today. As I look south to the cliffs, I don’t see the tumultuous white water that was there yesterday.

The water soon warms slightly and I can’t believe how pleasant this is. I’m thinking it must be 64. The weekly water temperature forecast came out last night. It’s supposed to be stable until Thursday night and then a blow out is due all day Friday. The report says you might want to bring booties on Saturday. Booties?! That’s 50’s talk. It also said that considering the shorter days, the declination of the Autumn sun and milder air temps, there won’t likely be a rebound. So is this it? Is Winter coming to stay this weekend? We shall see. This could just be forecaster drama.

It is a lovely swim all the way to the cliffs. No 10 feet sneaker waves. I can see the sand on the ocean floor and the detail of the grooves make it look like a meticulously manicured Zen garden. I linger here for just a bit and do see one sizable wave roll through just south of me but nothing like the scale I saw consistently crashing against the rocks yesterday.

Time to head north. I watch the sun’s afternoon light shine intensely on the textured surface of the water. It shimmers and sparkles and makes this landscape appear alive. Because it is.

Half way up the beach I continue to notice how comfortable I feel. Booties? Really? The wind looks like it has kicked up a bit but still not bad at all. The water’s surface fills with random wakes and divets. I look toward the Ritz and the Monarch beach clubhouse and I wonder where has this day gone? Obviously nowhere bad.

When I get to the bathrooms at the northern end, I’m surprised how quickly this happened. I turn around and aim toward the asphalt road. The water grows more clear as it becomes more shallow. The tide is so low that I am only chest deep even though I feel like I am a good ways out still. I walk to dry sand and head up the ramp.

A guy coming down asks me what the temperature is and I say 63-64. He was surprised and thought it would be 59-61. Well, maybe Saturday. I sigh inside…booties.