Neptune’s Christmas Trees

I left the house at 7:00 this morning with clear skies, cool air and light Santa Ana winds blowing from the north east. Those Santa Anas are helping to warm the air and taking the bite from the sub 50 degree air that was present earlier in the morning.

When I get to the parking lot, the stairway to the beach is covered in shade but it is not unbearably cold - just cold. I try to relax as I descend and put my attention on the tightness in my shoulders, neck and jaw - letting my breath ease the tension.

As expected, the beach is beautiful. The water feels good on my feet after walking on the cold concrete. There is a slight mist hovering over the sand which is still covered in the shade of the bluff behind. There is some descent surf in the water - fairly smallish but not tiny - probably shoulder high.

As I walk into the water I become aware how un-Decemberish it feels. It is not warm but it feels kind of good compared to the air I have been walking in. I dive under a couple oncoming waves and make my way past the surf.

I look south and can see the sun rising just over the bluff and shining onto the water, electrifying the surrounding air so that I need to squint my eyes to take in the scenery. It all looks almost other worldly. The entire coastline becomes transfigured my the conjoining forces of water and light and also the no-light in the shade of the cliffs.

After I complete my initial visual processing of this streaming data, my tactile analysis discovers that this water feels unseasonably warm. I already knew that but I think this feels warmer than earlier this week and certainly warmer than I expected things to be at this early hour.

I swim south and settle into a groove filled with music swimming in my head as I gaze upon the sunlit homes that line the bottom of the bluff. The water is somewhat clear. Clear enough so that I can make out some semblance of an ocean floor and I can see the sun’s rays pierce through the surface to form a curtain of iridescent light in the beautiful blueness of the water all around me. It catches the branches of nearby kelp and lights them up like Christmas trees of Neptune’s kingdom.

While warmer than expected it definitely is not getting any warmer. I focus on the cold I feel in my core. It's not particularly uncomfortable but it is noticable. I mull over it like a koan or rosary. It's like a riddle that tries to confound me. As I try to make sense of it, it takes on the appearance of a monster quietly waiting to overcome me. Then I stare into it and it softens and just melts into the water around me.

I get to the southern end of the beach in what feels like record time but probably no records have been set. There is some more than trivial surf heading into these outside cliffs. I don't linger here long and head north.

I swim and swim and swim. I watch the cold come and go. I can feel the energy of the water flow through my body like a tingly organic current. There are moments when my stroke feels smooth and graceful and others that feel awkward and jerky.

I reach the end and turn around to finish up. Just before heading back to shore I swim through a school of fish that are just below the water's surface.

Soon I am out of the water and headed up the stairs. Ok. Now I am cold. By the time I get to the top I am beginning to lose some sensation on the bottom of my feet. Then I head to some sun exposed sidewalk and I can feel the ground again.