Ten Dollar Lobster

I’m out of the house a little after 7:45. Although I am happy to be getting an earlier than usual start for a week day, I do wish we had the sun that I saw here yesterday. But if past experience is even slightly reliable, I should see the sun again…some day.

I get to the beach parking lot and the air is warm enough regardless of the overcast. The ocean surface looks smooth. There is a “beach access shuttle” parked on the road just above the stairs. I’ve seen this now for the last week and I wonder if this is the “beach access” destination or if it takes passengers down to the Salt Creek snack shop which is practically on the beach. Maybe this is the city’s answer to the defunct funicular? The driver is dressed in the same garb as the Dana Point trolley drivers. I’m sure google could answer this query for me but I choose to keep the mystery alive.

I head down the stairs and reach the asphalt road when I see a woman swimmer heading back up. I say hello and she mentions that the water is a little chilly today. Hmm. Interesting. The buoy reports do seem to indicate that the temp is down a couple degrees but nothing dramatic. When I reach the shore, I see the rest of the Monday swim group. Both the woman above and this group are all “trunking” it. I don’t know if I have ever seen everyone without a wetsuit. They too mention the colder water. Well as long as we are north of the 50’s, I’m good - not that I’d turn back if we were south.

I put my feet in the water and I can tell we are indeed not in the 50’s. It feels fine and certainly warmer than that cold Sunday we had a couple weeks ago. I make my way out and the water is a little cooler than the last few swims but it is comfortable enough.

The water is clearer than usual today - like it was Saturday. Once I am past the surf, which was quite small, I see a bat ray take off and is quickly out of sight.

I’m swimming north today. I see lots of fish just above the ocean floor as I cross the point. I keep my aim on the Monarch Beach Club. I wonder what it’s like inside. It’s been there from since I can remember when I was a child. Before I die, I’d like to see it. I bet the food is expensive. What if I end up going there on my 80th birthday only to discover they serve large portions of locally caught lobster for 10 dollars and all of these years I never went because I assumed the prices were off limits? Somehow I don’t think I need to worry about that.

The first half of the swim seems to go by quickly. I swim just short of the beach club - mmm smell that lobster. I lose myself in the grey sky that I see with every breath. There is a fishing tour boat a couple hundred feet outside of me. I keep swimming but that boat doesn’t seem to move in relation to me and the horizon.

As I swim back, I stare toward the beach. I can feel what little swell there is brush over, below and through me. The water that it carries seems to be warmer. I rise and fall and the view of the point ahead of me gets lost and then reappears. The ocean floor is predominately sandy with rocks interspersed here and there. Getting closer to the point between Salt Creek and Strands there are more rocks, kelp and small schools of fish.

I see three cormorants floating on the water. They look almost like geese with their long necks. I wait and hope to see them take off. I love how a cormorant takes off from the water with a seemingly sputtering start. If I could see three take off at once, that would be cool. Alas they remain seated and why not? They probably don’t have any software bugs they need to return to and fix like I do.

Once I am close to my finishing point I ease toward shore at an angle to hit land closer to the concrete ramp. I see another bat ray and I chase after it. I wonder if it is the same one I saw on the way out. I also see some small white fish on the bottom very close to shore. Soon I am in less than a couple feet of water and well I guess I have to get out. It was bound to happen eventually.