Late start today - meetings just will not end. I leave the house at 11:30. That’s ok because the sun just came out. I’ll have to trade off a smoother ocean surface for sunshine but that is a more than fair trade. The pattern you have here 9 days out of 10 at least is calm and still early morning and then a growing breeze picks up late morning that peaks mid afternoon and calms back down in the evening.

There is definitely a bit of a breeze here when I get to the parking lot. The scene is mostly sunny here but the marine layer is hanging out not too far offshore.

Those clouds and the breeze makes it feel like Summer is fighting with Autumn. One wants to dominate over the other. I’m totally rooting for you Summer!

The tide is highish at the beach but on its way down. The water feels warmish on my feet. With the breeze it is just a little tiny bit chilly. I’m betting I’ll actually be warmer in the water. I am preparing myself for a rough ride in the water. It is not full on chop city but there looks to be quite a bit of bump.

I walk out into the water. I dive in and start swimming past the small surf. It is definitely bumpy here. However, once I veer more sharply south, things seem to calm down a little. I can’t really tell for sure what direction the current is going. One moment I feel a push and the next I feel a pull.

I feel myself swimming in and out of mostly warm spots but a couple cold patches as well. The longer I am out here, the warmer I feel. Eventually the water feels like a warm blanket covering me.

I reflect back over the walk down the stairs and my thoughts of wondering if this swim is going to be a good thing. Or my inner debate before leaving home weighing the virtues of swim vs. elliptical. Ok, the elliptical is pure evil and has no virtue. Anyways, swimming here now feels like it was the perfectly correct decision.

I try to release my thoughts and see the horizon for the air and water that it is and no more. I watch my mind and attempt to observe it without judgement. Can I let these images pass before me without getting caught in their drama? Can I not draw conclusions on who it is I think that I am? Can I let go of the personas I imagine that I embody? What is it like to simply be here. What does the horizon actually look like. I have gazed at it hours upon hours over the course of my life but I feel like I have never really seen it.

I embellish this water this sand and these cliffs with the residue of memory. Fear and hope color the tint of my goggles. I fail to see anything undistorted by my own reflection.

I have a new camera today which is the identical model of my old one. The nice thing about that is that I did not have to spend any time figuring it out. I knew exactly how it works. And it does work! I can hear the little sound effects it emits when I press the trigger.

I swim past a couple large stalks of kelp and they reach for me and try to entangle my arms and legs. I slide my hands and arms through their vines and feel their slippery leaves.

Eventually I finish the swim. I’d say Autumn is making a bit of a come back now. It feels a little less bright than when I started but whatever chill I had on the way down is long gone now.

The walk up the stairs feels delightful. Is that breeze even still blowing? I pause. Yes, it is but it is offset nicely by the sun.