False Twilight

I leave for the beach at 11:30 and the sky is mostly sunny and largely hazy off of the horizon. My phone says it is 63 degrees and it just feels cold to me.

When I get to the parking lot, I can feel the sun here and there as I walk down the stairs. This is interwoven with a small breeze that seems to want to offset any genuine warmth I feel with a marginal chill, bit it’s December - what do I expect? I’m still not cold enough to feel the need to bring a backpack with towel and jacket so that’s nice.

Tide looks to be medium-low and the sand loss is gaining just a bit but not even close to last Winter/Spring levels (yet). There is a lifeguard truck parked just next to the lifeguard hut that has been vacant since September and will remain so until April. A handyman (a lifeguard equipped with a power drill) is removing the signage from the hut.

The water feels about the same as it has been for weeks on my feet. There is a good amount of texture from the breeze on the water. I walk out into the water and notice the clarity and how I can see the ocean bottom in the waist high shallows. Not a lot of surf today to disturb the sand.

I eventually dive in to start swimming and immediately notice a drop in temperature since my last swim. I would not say it is a dramatic drop but it is definitely a drop. I’ve been watching the buoy data over the last week and the temps do seem to come down a degree or two depending on the buoy and time of day. Overall it is still very tolerable and the cold does not spoil the swim.

The water is not exactly crystal clear but I can see an ocean floor and rocks and whatnot throughout the entire swim. The current is very much flowing from the northwest. As I swim south I feel myself pushed along and the wakes wash over my back and occasionally into my face.

When I get to the southern end of the beach and look north, I can see a steady stream of 5 inch wakes heading toward me. They are frequent and don’t seem to stop at all. I am very much aware of them the entire way towards Salt Creek. They are lapping right into my head. The surface seems otherwise relatively calm but these wakes are like an oncoming army of tiny water people determined to thwart my progress.

I’ve got music in my head today that isn’t necessarily terrible but definitely not my style. Where does this come from? The day feels so late even though it is just past noon. Maybe it is the haze on the edge of the horizon that creates a sense of false twilight.

I finish up the swim past my usual ending location and just short of the concrete ramp. That handy lifeguard is still there but has ceased his handyman work and is just kicking it on the rocks. I head up the stairs and as usual over the last couple weeks, I feel warmer on the walk up than I did coming down. On the drive home, my phone says it is 68 degrees. I don’t believe it.