Full Breach

I’m wondering if I want to keep to my usual Saturday morning routine of run and swim, or lately elliptical and swim. My achilles just does not seem to be getting any better even though I have practically stopped running. I have an appointment to see an Orthopedic specialist in early August. Since the water was so pleasant yesterday and can’t be anything but more pleasant today, why not take a long swim and quit the run? I could go all the way to Monarch point.

So that is exactly what I plan to do and I am out of the house at 7:45.

It is completely overcast and I do not at all expect it to clear up soon but it is warm and the water may be in the 70’s so it might as well be sunny and crystal clear.

As I pass Doheny the one striking contrast to yesterday is the relatively smooth ocean surface. Yeah, that will be nice.

I get to the parking lot and get my second favorite parking spot (second spot from the end). There is this big truck parked in my favorite spot. I’ve seen this truck regularly now for the last few weeks. He parks facing out and sits in his car for hours and sometimes with the car running. The truck looks almost like a utility truck with lots or cargo holds and he has one of those neon reflective vests in the cab. It all looks kind of “official” - whatever that means.

I mean I see lots of people in their vans here regularly that practically live out their days in the parking lot in a leisurely manner. This guy has a sort of “on the clock” kind of energy to him.

I make my way down the stairs and get to the beach at what looks like low tide. I put my foot in the water and it feels even warmer than yesterday. It’s like a cool bath.

I start to walk out into the water. I am wearing my watch and note the time. I plan to go all the way to Monarch and don’t really care about time but for future reference, I want to see where the 30 minute mark is so I know how far to go when I take a normal sized swim. It is 8:17.

I see something moving just south of me at the main surf break. It’s not a surfer but looks possibly human. Yup, another swimmer though they look to be taking things pretty leisurely. Well, today is a good day for that!

I am heading north-west and I think I see something further out from me. May be it is that swimmer? I stop and look up and then see a Dolphin fully breach. Wow. I have never seen that here before. It looked like it was going really fast and then shoots up vertically showing its entire large body. It was stunning and of course I did not get a picture since it all happened so fast.

I continue northward. The water is clear like yesterday. As I pass the Salt Creek lifeguard tower, I am fairly close to the point and it is shallow with lots of rock and kelp. I see several bright orange Garibaldi.

Heading into Salt Creek proper, I make the same observation as Wednesday that the water here seems pretty shallow for as far offshore as I am, but the water is clearer today and I see more detail on the bottom.

It’s a much more interesting swim than the 100% sandy bottom between the San Clemente pier and North Beach. Lots to look at today.

I’m thinking of this documentary I started watching on Netflix last night about freediving - The Deepest Breath. I am absolutely fascinated by freediving. My very first swim here in 2020 was partially inspired by a podcast interview with the author of One Breath, Adam Skolnick, who is also interviewed in this documentary. Freediving is like this intermingling of meditation, ocean enthusiast activity, dare devil adventure and super human breath holding.

These people hold their breath for several minutes. The record is 25 minutes…25 MINUTES! One of the keys to holding the breath for so long is relaxation. When you watch a freediving competition, for several minutes before the dive, the diver just floats on the water in a relaxed and meditative state. Then as they move through the water, they are nearly still. You would imagine as they rise back to the surface they would be nearly panicking for their next breath, but they just slowly rise bit by bit.

They have to learn to be completely aware of what is going on in their body physically and mentally. They have to be comfortable with extreme depths and pressure as they descend hundreds of feet and into complete darkness. The record is over 400 feet deep.

It is so beautiful to watch and it is incredibly dangerous. Many have died. I mean lots. One particularly infamous diving hole has claimed more lives than Everest.

What I probably find most interesting about all of this is the role of relaxation. The panic response to holding one’s breath does not come from a lack of oxygen but is rather from the build up of carbon dioxide. The free diver has to train their mind to accept and tolerate this build up and relaxation is a key component to this.

A couple years ago I was doing these breathing/meditation exercises that involved breath holding. It is super odd to watch the body and mind as it struggles from lack of breath. It’s not like you are in pain or immediate danger as long as you eventually take a breath. It is just this sensation of terror that slowly rises and intensifies. Eventually I passed out during these “exercises” and decided they were not adding much value and was just yet another thing filling up my time and I stopped. It’s all fun and games until somebody passes out.

I have this suspicion that taking a more relaxed, aware and unforced approach to life in general is a key to better living. This is a belief that started before I took up swimming but has certainly been fed and nurtured by my time in the ocean. It is difficult to articulate but I feel that freediving is a sort of metaphor for this approach to life. As one learns to live in nature and relax and gain awareness of their bodies in nature, they can do what one would consider impossible and make it look effortless. Now if you could only remove the whole dying problem from freediving, the metaphor would be perfect.

So as I swim here in the ocean, I try to relax my body and mind and give myself over to the experience of being in this warm water.

I eventually reach Monarch point and it is beautiful. It took 45 minutes to get here. As I near the point there are more and more rocks and fish. If I were more energetic I would try swimming further out to what looks like a small beach near the end of the point. What I really want to do someday is swim past the point and into three arch bay which has no public entry point other than the water. I’m just curious what it looks like.

I see a line of people walking on the spine of the ridge at the very end of the point. I think they might be divers but I’m not sure.

I eventually turn around and begin the swim back to where I started.

I see a kayaker at one point and we exchange hellos. We mention the water clarity and temperature. He raises his fist in the air declaring victory. We finally made it to 70 degrees! I share this feeling completely!

As I pass Salt Creek point again, I see a few bat rays just lying motionless on the bottom of the floor. Thanks to the visibility I get a pretty good look a them.

I just keep swimming south. I’m pretty darn close to shore. There is really not a lot of surf today and somehow with the angle that I approached the point, ending up here just happened naturally.

Soon enough I reach the end. I was in the water an hour and 45 minutes. Oh and just for the record, the 30 minute mark heading north was at the bathrooms at the edge of the golf course about half way between the lifeguard tower and Monarch.

It looks like the lifeguard station is opening up. I feel obligated to see if they are again going to post 64 degrees like they did yesterday. The numbers are not up yet. I ask the lifeguard if he is the same person I talked to yesterday - lifeguards these days - they all look alike. He is not and as I begin to give him my “it is not 64 degrees” speech, I see that he as already written 70-72 on the board. Yes! That was my experience. He comments that it is definitely warmer than 64 degrees out there. Thank you. I feel seen.