Left the house at 6:30 this morning. It’s another overcast morning and there is a foggy mist floating on the San Clemente hills that you can see from my home in Capo.

As I make my way on PCH near upper Del Prado, I find myself following a food truck that looks like it specializes in coffee. I think to myself, maybe I should follow that truck. I wonder where it is headed? By the time I get to Selva Rd. I realize that I totally forgot about the coffee truck and mentally kick myself because now I will never know where it was headed. Did it continue on PCH to Laguna? Did it turn off somewhere in “downtown” Dana Point? This is knowledge that I will never possess. Well, I think I’ll be fine.

I pull into the parking lot at Strands and the water is super glassy. It is very grey but quiet and peaceful here.

I park next to a truck where three guys look to be prepping for a surf session. As I watch them fuss with their wetsuits it makes me realize that that is one of the perks of going without a wetsuit - avoiding the trouble of getting it on and off. Hypothermia shmypothermia.

I walk on down he stairs and wonder what the temp will be like. Yesterday was pretty darn nice. It could be a bit colder due to the earlier hour but it can’t be that bad. Certainly it will be warmer than likely all of my early swims since October.

I get to the beach and it is high tide. Not super high - just under 4 feet. The waves look bigger than yesterday even though the morning surf report says they would be smaller. It’s probably just one of those larger sets that come through once every several sets.

The water on my feet actually feels warmer than it felt when I got down to the beach yesterday.

I set down my stuff and head west. It is in between sets and I stare into a grey-blue expanse. White clouds under a blue sky and white water above blue water. The ocean rushes to my shins. It’s cool but refreshing. For the next hour, my identity will be fused into the surface of this water.

A set comes in and I just kind of maintain position in stomach deep water while it passes. I take a few steps forward and I am suddenly in knee deep water again ,then waist deep. I release my weight forward and dive below the next oncoming broken wave. White effervescence passes over me and I emerge amidst a foamy surface.

A few small leftover waves pass me on either side that leave a trailing wake in front of me.

I keep swimming due west until I don’t see any bubbles around me and the depth looks more significant and I begin to see the outer kelp stalks dancing and their broken stems and leaves floating in the surrounding water.

Time to veer south.

The water feels good. It really doesn’t feel any colder than yesterday’s late morning water. Oh how I welcome this water. I mean this time of year (really any time of year) it can plummet in a day or two given the right kind of wind, but there is certainly no wind now.

I see several surfers along the beach but it is not at all crowded. I hope they are getting as much from this place as I am.

The water is a pure, pale blue. The clarity seems to come and go.

I eventually reach the south end of the beach. I take a few photos. The same ones I have taken about a hundred times. I’m trying to start to organize these pics into albums by category. I created a “Ritz” category a couple weeks ago and moved over any pick that has a view of the Ritz Carlton. There were a few hundred.

As I head back north my head faces the horizon and it is hard to separate where the water begins and ends. It looks grey below the surface, above the surface and in the sky that dominates the west.

I pop up every now and then to check my trajectory - trying to keep an aim for the familiar landmarks of the lifeguard tower, the ritz and the two-toned cliff below with the brown dirt edge that abruptly turns green from the shrubbery about 100 feet inland.

I am just dying to come across a Dolphin. I would absolutely love to get a good close up pic not to mention just the experience of being near one. This is their season but no such luck today.

As I approach my northern turnaround point, I spot the Dana Outrigger crew a few hundred feet farther out from me. I can hear their voices. I take a couple pics but from here they just look like a row of black dots floating on small sticks in the water.

I soon turn around for the final leg of the swim. I pass over island after island of kelp and rock on my way back south. Their branches look like dark brown and red waving tentacles of some sea monster planted to the floor.

Just as I am heading inland I hear something close by. Oh is it a Dolphin?! No. Just another swimmer that looks to be on the same path as I am.

Before long I see several other swimmers all heading back to shore.

I exchange hellos as one is trying to body surf a wave in and we comment on the warmer water. I mean how can you NOT talk about that?

I grab my stuff and briefly chat with two swimmers on the sand. One notes how the sand is filling back in. It certainly is and it is nice having our carpet back.

Well it’s back up the stairs to the car. What a delightful way to start the day.

The same surfers that were prepping when I parked are now working to remove their wetsuits. I listen to them chatting about the water temperature. One recalls a trip (I didn’t catch where) where it was 110 degrees outside but the water was 55 and how it was just impossible to get comfortable. Wow. That would be an odd experience.

As I drive back down PCH I see what looks like a farmer’s market off Del Prado. THAT’s where the coffee truck went! Mystery solved.