Cold Patches
I left the house at 6:15. It's overcast but as I exit my front door I can see just a smidge of blue poking out from the clouds above.
I get to the parking lot and walk down the stairs. There is now a solid rift of blue up above. It's still predominantly overcast but doesn't feel like it.
I'm guessing the water temperature will be the same as yesterday. The buoy data hasn't moved much. Some are a couple degrees warmer and others colder. San Pedro which was 60 yesterday is now a sultry 63. Once my feet touch the water it does indeed feel the same as yesterday.
I get in and over the length of the swim, I'd say it was down a degree on average but quite comfortable. At the south end of the beach there are cold patches that pass by me like clouds. I can feel them slide over different parts of my body: my left arm, my under side, the tops of my feet.
The water isn't as clear as it was yesterday. I see another bat ray but it quickly glides into a grey oblivion.
I'm in a funk this morning. While I'm not crazy about being anywhere now, right here in the ocean is about the best place I can imagine for this moment.
All I can do is swim, but swim I can do. There is no ambiguity, confusion or inner conflict involved with this activity. I am grateful to have something to do that I can do and that I want to do. There is nothing else that I can do here so I try to surrender my concerns for now and just swim.
I want to order my thoughts but everything is in disarray and I just can't tell what goes where. Is it the thoughts or is it the thinker? I don't know. I focus on the water encasing my body and moving over my skin.
As I swim north, I drift further out. I see a buoy to my left. This is the buoy I saw from the parking lot yesterday. I had wondered if it was the north star which had recently disappeared. This is close but a bit south of where it was before.
I seem to be very close but I don't really have time for an excursion. So I'll have to postpone the visit.
More blue sky emerges throughout the swim. I can see the sun sitting over the bluff and clouds surround the edges of the sky.
I finish up and the Sunday morning swim crew is coming to shore as well. We discuss water temperature. I feel like we could speak for hours on this topic. We just brush over the highlights and I'm on my way.
