It’s an overcast Sunday morning but warm and balmy. I leave the house at 6:45. My wife and older kids are going to a play in San Diego so I need to make sure to be back by 10 for toddler duty with our foster son. I get to the Strand parking lot and I can see a break in the clouds in the distant horizon. This will all definitely burn off but maybe not before I head home.

I begin with a 6 mile run up to the bike path at Del Avion and then back through Salt Creek. As Salt Creek beach comes into view and I can see the point that divides it from the Dana Strand, I notice what looks like a half dozen large spherical buoys past the surfline at the point. I’m wondering what that is all about. Did the Jr. Lifeguards move to North of the point and plant their buoys here for the summer? As I get closer and more of the beach becomes visible, I see several trailers parked on the sand - must be a surf competition I figure. When I get even closer I see the trailers are marked “Cosmic Creek.” Later I learn that this weekend is the Cosmic Creek Surf Festival. The trailers have planetary art work on them. Suddenly the buoys make sense. Those are planets. As I walk out on the point, you can see that they are different colors. That’s pretty clever and cool!

I keep running all the way to the southern most end of Strands beach and then back to the parking lot. I change into my swim trunks and head down to the beach. When I get to the shore, I see a group of about 6 swimmers just finishing up. We briefly exchange some friendly banter. I asked them if they swam to the planets and they said that they did.

I get into the water and begin my swim. The ocean surface is nice and smooth today past the waves. The water is a lovely dark blue. While the visibility is not great, it’s not cloudy. I can see the tops of several kelp trees which appear to quickly vanish into a dark void. One could easily imagine this water to be 100 feet deep, but I know it is only about 20 feet. The water temperature continues not to disappoint. My mind feels kind of like a mish mash of churning clouds this morning. I had a similar experience during my morning meditation after I woke up. It’s difficult to separate dream from thought - like getting pulled under from a large wave. What else can I do but give in to it? I try to let myself just feel this swooshy and somewhat dark disorientation.

When I make my way to my northern most turnaround point. I see the closest inflatable planet is pretty close. Why not? I decide to swim out to it. It does not take too long. I’m directly west of the Salt Creek point now. This planet is red and orange. Maybe it’s the sun since it is at the end? I can see the other planets well from here. Earth is easy to make out. I wish they would leave them out here for the season. It definitely adds some festiveness to the water here.

As I swim back I have a couple fish sightings. The first is a large school of descent sized fish. They are all fairly stationary and some are swimming in small circles. A little further I see a single fish just hovering in a kelp tree. I think it might be a Calico Bass but I’m not expert at fish identification. There have been days, usually in the summer when I see quite a lot of fish but most days I don’t see anything.

I finish up and put some hustle in my steps up the stairs. I’m anxious not to be late getting home especially after adding some distance to today’s swim out to the planets. I just couldn’t resist their gravitational pull!