I’m leaving the house a little before 6:00. It’s cold. Now that the time has changed, there is enough light that I can get in a swim and be back in time to watch my son before my wife needs to leave for church. However, given the temperature outside, I’m questioning just how nice this is. It’s ok. I just need to get through this journey to the water and then things get better even if it seems as though they are going to get worse.

Other than being cold, it is a beautiful morning. The sky is clear and blue and pink and you can still see a star here and there. When I get to the parking lot, it looks like there is just a little texture on the water from an offshore breeze.

I get out of my car. Oof. Let’s get my butt down to the beach fast. I can feel the breeze. It could definitely be worse, but there is no direct sunlight yet. Everything is in shadows.

Not a whole lot going on here. I see a couple walkers up here on top and I only cross paths with one person on the way down the stairs. As I get close to the beach, I can hear surf a little louder than the last few days. Surfline has been forecasting a northwest swell. When I got up this morning, it said surf was 1-2 feet but after the morning report came up, that changed to 3-4. That looks to be about right. Maybe even a little bigger.

There are a few people on the beach and one guy is throwing a ball with his dog. Dogs are not allowed on this beach but it is good to see a dog on the beach. He (the human) sees my camera and asks me about it. While we talk, his dog drops its ball at my feet and I throw it and the dog chases after it.

The water does not feel as cold as I have been anticipating, which would be somewhere in the ballpark of 15 degrees. Compared to the air temperature, it really does not feel bad at all.

As I start to walk out, there are waves breaking to my left and right that look like nice waves. As I am watching these, a larger set comes in and breaks right in front of me. Well, I’m now completely wet. I actually appreciate this. The waves have done in an instant an act that I might labor over for almost a minute.

Just before I start swimming, I shoot what I hope will be a perfect picture of a wave curling over me. Timing can be tough. The sky is a navy blue and the wave is beautiful. Later it looks like I got the back side of the wave from inside the water. Oh well. There will be many more waves in my future.

As I start to swim I am delighted to find that I am actually warmer now that I am in the water. Everything but my head that is. I’m getting this ice cream headache but I know it will pass in a minute and it does. This is nice. It’s so much better than my irrational self feared and about as nice as my right mind figured it would be.

I swim south and cocoon myself inside this shell that is cold on the outside and warm on the inside. The surface of the water is a warm blanket that gives me comfort. I just let myself settle in this place with no compulsion to leave.

About half way down the beach, I look up to check my trajectory and am taken aback by the color of the sky. The pink glow that seems to emanate from the water on the horizon line is exquisite. I must stop and take a picture. Then I continue.

There are some decent waves breaking over the big rock on the south end of the beach. I swim seaward for a bit to add some distance between it and myself. Once I am aligned with it, I have a look around and head back north.

The south end of the beach feels a little cooler than when I started out. Either there just isn’t enough light or water visibility has taken a nose dive today. It might be this swell mixing up the sand in the water.

Once I’m almost half way back up, I see this ball of light out of the corner of my eye as I come up for air. It must be the sun just coming up over the headlands. I stop to look at it. Everything is so lovely here right now.

Towards the north end of the Strand, I can see waves heading into Salt Creek, they look like they have some decent size to them and I can hear the distant voices of surfers but I can’t see them. A cormorant flies to my west and a pair of pelicans to my east. All are heading north.

Soon it’s time for me to turn around. I’m almost done now and the Sunday morning swim crew passes me as they head back up towards Salt Creek. I don’t think they see me and if I wasn’t stopped trying to figure out where I am, I probably would not have seen them. I can see the houses on top of the bluff well enough, but I can’t find the asphalt road. The sun is shining right on top of it so I just have to trust it’s where I think it is. Seeing as how I have done this a thousand times, I think I have a pretty good idea where it is.

I keep my eye out for waves as I approach the beach. Nothing seems to come and before I know it I’m sitting in just a few inches of water. Then a wave does come. Lying down on the sand seems like a better option than standing up. The wave crashes on me and provides some depth to help me get up more easily. Thanks.

Ok now I’m cold. I’m not dying but it feels like the further up the stairs I get, the less I can feel my feet. They might as well just be stumps by the time I get up top. I see sun. Oh sun, shine on me!