Muddy Waters

I left the house at about 9:30 this morning. Beautiful, early Fall morning.

I notice a subtle change in the light but I assure you the weather has not “turned” here in Dana Point. It amuses me when I hear locals talk about how they sense the season changing or that they are looking forward to the onset of Fall as they look for relief from the Summer heat. September and October can be brutally hot here and November and December are certainly not exempt. This used to seriously bum me out. I’d wear a flannel shirt in 80 degree weather just out of spite. I’m over it.

I get to the parking lot and the water looks smooth and inviting.

On the beach I notice a slight drop in water temperature. We have had some onshore winds the last couple days and I wonder what today’s swim will be like. Well, I can tell it’s not going to be a significant difference from Sunday.

Sure enough, as I dive into the water, it is indeed cooler but still quite comfortable enough.

I am noticing that the water looks even browner than it did last weekend. Every once in a while I see a more blue patch but it is mostly yuck. Some spots are blue with what looks like a brown carpet not far below and other spots are pretty much just brown all over. Other than the stray kelp that floats on the surface, I don’t see any swaying stalks of kelp reaching up from the ocean floor today.

As I swim I let my body feel the coolness in the water. There are definitely some spots that seem purely warm and I would say that the second half of the swim was warmer than the first, but there is a coolness here that has been absent for a few weeks. I try to lose my thoughts in the horizon.

When I get near my northern turn around point by the bathrooms on the Salt Creek end of the beach, I pause and am just grossed out by the water around me. There is this icky residue floating on the top and I try hard to pretend I have no idea that it is here. Ahhh nature.

Welp I get to the end and it has been yet another delightful swim regardless of water color.