Clouds of the Apocalypse

Off to a late start today. I leave the house at 1:30. It’s sunny and hot. I’ve been inside an air conditioned house most of the day but I’m looking forward to getting into the water on this hot afternoon.

On the way to the beach there are large clouds that look like thunder heads over the Santa Ana mountains. The winds are starting to kick in. According to the forecast, it should be manageable all day except in the 4:00 hour there are 13 knot ESE winds due. It looks odd and I wonder if it is some kind of weather modeling anomaly. If not, hopefully I’ll finish things up before those materialize. However ESE might not be much of a problem. It’s the NW winds that tend to really ruffle things up.

As I get close to the beach parking lot, I wonder if this will be one of those rare days when the lot is totally full. It’s midday on a weekend in the middle of a heat wave. Lots of cars are parked on the street and all of my favorite spots are taken. Then I see the less popular areas of the lot and there are plenty of open spaces. The only time I have never been able to find a space was during COVID and the entire world wanted to mingle with one another on the beach. Of course they did.

I’m very pleased with my parking spot. I get out of the car and it feels at least 5 degrees cooler here than at my house. The breeze here actually has an element of coolness to it. It’s a very small element but it is present.

The water looks like it has some turbulence to it but doesn’t look particularly choppy. In this heat, it’s gonna be tough to come up with reasons not to get in the water.

There are plenty of people on the beach but it’s nothing like what it was yesterday at the San Clemente pier. The beach here is super nice and I personally think it’s the best in Dana Point. It’s big down side is the stairs and I wonder if that explains the smaller crowds. It’s no problem for me especially when I am here alone. However if your fitness is particularly lacking or if you are a family with lots of stuff to haul and kids that need hands on constant guidance like my three year old, it can be very challenging.

Baby beach is popular for families but I find the harbor water disgusting at best and potentially unsafe at worst. My wife’s favorite is the south end of Doheny just north of Capo Beach. It has fire pits and you can practically park on the beach which solves the entire “hauling stuff” problem. However it costs 15 dollars to park there and the shore and shallows are mostly cobble with waves that like to break right on the shore and potentially cause blunt force trauma wounds if you want to hang out near the water.

Looks like the free beach shuttle is still up and running besides the fact that it is advertised to end service on labor day. That’s actually a pretty nice option. The driver is extremely lively with a loud and thick Italian accent. I think it’s Italian? I have no idea if he really is Italian or if he is practicing his acting skills. He is laying it on super thick, which sounds entertaining but a little over the top.

The lifeguard station says the water is 69 degrees. Really? It’s got to be warmer than that in this heat. I swear they are copying Surfline. I often notice that when Surfline adjusts its numbers, which can be infrequent for water temperature, the lifeguard numbers here follow them to a T. However when I get in the water, 69 seems pretty feasible, and 69 feels great.

The water is pretty wakey. It’s hard to tell if I am going with or against the current. I think it is more “with.” It seems like pretty good visibility but that doesn’t seem to last very long. Those thunderheads are dominating the eastern sky and giving off a sort of apocalyptic vibe. Fortunately they do not obscure the light here at all. It is as bright as can be but maybe a little hazy.

The clouds seem like they are following me. When I begin, it looks like they are gathered towards the middle of the beach and when I get to the south end, it looks like they have all shifted south right with me.

The way the light is hitting the cliffs here below the headlands, the entrance to the tunnel is illuminated. I have not been in that tunnel in decades and need to go again sometime. Maybe once my son’s attention span exceeds five seconds.

I turn around and head towards Salt Creek. I am mentally preparing myself for a long journey given the potential current. I just ease into my stroke and keep moving. The main thing working against me is hunger. I’m hungry but I’m not yet totally sapped. I think I can do this. My hunger becomes my special focal point given the lack of cold water. I let my thoughts explore the hunger and stay right inside of it without pushing it away. If I just keep moving, I’m not particularly bothered by it. This doesn’t stop me from thinking of the different varieties of lettuce I bought at the store today and consider which I will use in my salad later.

Besides hunger, my thoughts tend to wander in and out of dream state. I get lost in the deep blues and greens beneath me and the shifting shades of darkness that pass slowly along and it is like that moment just before sleep when your thoughts drift at the edge of dreams that you are semi conscious of. Various songs play in my background and I just let them play and shift from one frequency to another. I seem to have very little control over the radio tuner (or the Spotify play list selection).

I’m making my way north. It’s slow but better than some other days. Finally I’m past the lifeguard. Oh now I’m half way into Niguel Shores. I wonder what the front sides of these houses look like? The northern bathrooms get larger and the cliff below the Ritz grow from a splotch of bare earth in the distance to a monolithic mass of dirt right in front of me.

At my turn around point there is a boat just about fifty feet further north of me. I pause for a couple minutes and turn around to head back. I can definitely feel myself moving faster now. The rocks and kelp move below me maybe three times as fast as they did coming the other direction. I swim directly for the asphalt road. These last few weeks, my ending point has consistently been right in front of the concrete ramp. There is plenty of sand right now and the surf has not been crazy which makes this exit not too treacherous.

Ok I’m done and I walk back up the stairs. It is indeed warm here but it is very pleasant after over an hour in the cool ocean. I review my pics and don’t expect anything particularly interesting today but then I see the clouds and I have to say they do look cool - maybe even more so in the pictures than they did in the water.