San Clemente

Change of venue today! Monday afternoon someone was bit by a Sea Lion at Salt Creek and again at Strands. They closed water access at the beach until Tuesday morning and after another incident closed it again until Wednesday (yesterday). On Tuesday I had been planning on swimming yesterday and figured I’d swim from the San Clemente pier towards North Beach.

I ordered a pretty cheap water resistant watch so I could time the swim and get in the distance I typically swim. Scheduling didn’t work out for a swim yesterday and they re-opened the beach. I’m not “super” nervous about the Sea Lion. I’d call it a solidly mild concern. The fact is I have the watch today and why not? Why not give the poor Sea Lion another day to swim elsewhere? And why not swim somewhere else for once? It will be nice to have a change of scenery.

Last time I swam at the San Clemente pier was in the Fall of 2021 during the oil spill that closed down all Dana Point beaches for a couple weeks. It was a good spot: sandy beach and scenic. I thought I would alternate between the Strand and the pier more often but that didn’t happen. I’m such a creature of habit. Also, you have to pay to park by the pier unless you are there early.

So I left at 10:30 for the pier. I was waiting for the sun to come out but one can only wait so long. The drive to the pier is almost the same length as the drive to the Strand maybe a minute or two faster even. However after dealing with the pay station, it evens out. $2.25 for 90 minutes! Do I look like a bank?

I am delighted that the sky has gone from 98% overcast to 30% in the short time it took to get here. This is going to be a beautiful swim I can tell already.

Arriving at the pier is a way different scene from arriving at the strand. The most striking difference is commerce and traffic. There are shops, restaurants, a train stop and a trolley stop right at the end of the pier. However it is still pretty low key. No one is Newporting anyone’s Clemente here any time soon.

It’s all good energy. Afterall, it’s the beach!

It’s a shorter walk to the water than at Strands. I notice some warning signs on the sand and take a closer look. It’s just informing folks that this spot is for surfers only and not for swimming, bodyboarding or wading. Hmm. Well who is going to care? I’ll be out of everyone’s way in no time.

After I am about 20 feet out. Sure enough, someone is on a loud speaker from the pier lifeguard tower and proclaiming that there is no wading allowed and I should return to shore “immediately.” Oh man. I am probably closer to the surf line than I am to the shore. I try to hand motion that I am not a wader and am heading out “that way.” I realize this communication is futile. I immediately start swimming out and figure they will leave me be once they see what I am up to. Fortunately, I am correct.

One of my first thoughts as I begin to head north is that the water feels fabulous! It gets a little cool here and there but it is mostly extremely pleasant. My other thought is that I really hope there is not a control freak lifeguard planning to intercept me and charge me with defying his orders.

Over the course of the swim that control freak lifeguard thought fades from my dominant thought and gradually disappears completely. I figure on my way back, I need to figure out where the surf/swim border is and end the swim there.

I have my watch on. I really tried to find a watch with a built in thermometer. I found these super expensive nice GPS swim watches but nothing to measure the water temperature. Other than the time, that is all I want. The only thing I found was the Apple watch Ultra that claimed to measure water temperature. However, I am morally opposed to Apple products for no real moral reasons but my opposition is absolutely moral even if it is groundless. The evils of the Apple ecosystem are my pet, self-constructed absolute truth.

Oh yeah…so I have my watch…feels weird…but the time of swim departure is 10:51. I plan to swim for 35 minutes and turn around. The extra 5 minutes is because I don’t know where that surf/swim line is and I want a buffer for good measure.

It really is nice here. I am staring at the horizon most of the way and occasionally look ahead. The nature of the coast here is that it cuts west just past the main strip of beach near the pier. Then it becomes a very skinny and non-existent during high tides as it runs parallel to the beach trail near the railroad tracks until it gets to the next beach - North Beach.

It is pretty low tide so I see sand the whole way. As I look up I can see Poche, Doheny and the same Dana Point that is the south end of my usual swim far far off in the distance.

When I did this in 2021, I had a different watch and timed myself for 30 minutes. I don’t remember any signage or reprimand about the surf zone - maybe because it was after the busier Summer season. At 30 minutes I made it well short of North Beach.

I must be going faster today. After my allotted 35 minutes, I am super close to North Beach. I figure I might as well swim until I am aligned with the North Beach bathrooms. I give myself another few minutes and I’m pretty well past them.

I am very close to the mobile mansions that line the coast just south of Poche. I have run on that beach many many times and it’s odd, but great, to have this different perspective.

The pier looks so far away from here. The sky is crystal clear now and its just spectacular out.

I turn around and head back toward the pier.

One thing I remember about this stretch and it has not changed is the lack of kelp. I do miss the under water forests of the Strand. It’s just sand, sand, sand here. I run into a few stray bits of floating seaweed here and there but at Strands it seems I am constantly in contact with some sort of organic material.

I watch the bluffs, the railroad below and the condos above all the way back. This is where the recent land slide activity took place this year after our super wet season.

I’m a little more cognizant of Seal/Sea Lion sightings than usual. So apparently there is an algae bloom up near San Luis Obispo and Seals, Sea Lions and Dolphins are dying from being poisoned by a certain single celled organism. It’s been a real problem. They think the aggressive Sea Lion at the Strand was poisoned and may have had a seizure and was likely totally disoriented and then startled by the humans and then bit someone.

I have had two seal encounters while swimming and they say if they enter your space on their terms, they are harmless which was my experience.

Eventually the Casa Romantica comes into view - a historical building here that also suffered from recent land slide issues. The pier is closer now and I am very close to the lifeguard administrative offices on the beach.

I’m pretty close to shore and trying to pay attention to what kind of people are near the shore - swimmers or surfers? Suddenly I find surfers and then I can see the surf and swim signs. I head to shore. I’ve been out here for an hour and twenty five minutes. I’m a bit drained and my calves have been cramping up.

I make it to shore and feel very satisfied with my experience. I see a lifeguard sprinting in the direction of two “waders” in the surf zone. It occurs to me that this probably makes up for the majority of lifeguard activity here - keeping the waders from the surfers. He is running with such vigor as if they will be scalped by a surf fin at any moment. I imagine the videos he was forced to watch during his training of well meaning but severely maimed beach goers struck by surfers.

I walk to the pier and have a quick look underneath and then walk back to the car. I am several minutes past the 90 minutes I paid for. I did not anticipate being gone this long. No ticket though.

I drive back home along El Camino Real to PCH to Camino Capistrano - one of my favorite local drives. I must do this again before 2025.