The Dana Strand Archipelago
In so many ways today’s swim was just like yesterday except it was completely different. I left about the same time, a little after 11:00. The air was cool - 60 degrees. The skies are just a tad greyer - partly cloudy but still plenty of sun. It was completely overcast until about 10:00 this morning. I get to the beach and I am thinking of how I should be working and not swimming but I’m here now and my destiny has been decided.
Dread about the cold water again as I walk down the stairs. Dread, but yet looking forward to getting in the water because that is when the dread ends. It’s like I have to feel it to believe it. I have to experience the actual cold in order to get over my over exaggerated imaginations of how terrible such an experience will be which I know it will not be but yet I am convinced it will be. I know this makes absolutely no sense but it is the way of things.
It’s a beautiful beach today just like yesterday and the time before that and the time before that and the time before that, etc. etc. I set down my stuff and head to the water. It is so nice. The water is clear and blue and the bottom is sandy and it feels like I could walk a mile before I reach the surf. The surf is a bit larger today but still “fun sized” as the surf report says which seems spot on. There is a much larger swell coming on Sunday that I will likely skip - 12 feet. I finally take that plunge and thank goodness I can now end the madness in my head over this cold water. It’s good. It’s good. It’s good. It’s so good. I invite the cold into every pore of my body.
The current is very different today. I mean it is probably just as strong - not very - but it has a different character. As I swim south I can feel it moving over me but I can’t quite place if I am swimming with it or against it. It’s coming more from the west and pushing across me. Then when I turn around and head north, I feel the swell coming from the north west. Even though I am heading right into it, it feels like each wake draws me into itself and when I crest the peaks it feels like I am sliding over the backs. These wakes are very different from yesterday’s small and constant wakes. These are larger and fairly steep angled waves that are separated at a slightly longer interval. They are very friendly and I find myself easily taken in by there grace.
I actually enjoy the cold over the entire swim. Yes it gets colder as time proceeds and there are a few nice patches where it feels almost warm but even through those warmer patches I can feel the cold in my face. The cold is penetrating and I try to meet it right at its point of contact. I put my attention on its electric charge right at the edge of my skin.
The water is more clear today but it is not at all clear. I can see shadows of rock on the bottom and a few stalks of kelp that reach up close to the surface. I enjoy watching the shadows pass like islands in a large archipelago. The final swim back from the border of Salt Creek feels particularly grey. There is a good deal of blue in the sky but also lots of translucent wispy clouds that look like a fine, loosely knit cloth just below the sun. I’m for sure all about the bright sunny days but this is nice too.
Well its time to head to shore and I make my way into the surf and I am surprised but not shocked when I feel my hand brush the bottom even though it looks like I am still far from the shore. I stand up and walk the rest of the way over a rolling, sandy, and clear terrain. I look to each side and stare at the long expanse of coastline covered in whitewater.
I grab my pack and walk to the parking lot. I’d say about 85% of my walks up the stairs since I have been carrying my pack down in January, I don’t end up taking anything out of the pack until I am up top. Still its worth being able to walk down with a couple upper layers on and the peace of mind knowing that if I really needed to dry off sooner I could.
I get to the top, shower, get in the car and download my pics to my phone and then get super frustrated trying to figure out just where the pictures went. I fuss with this for 10 minutes before I decide that I’ll just figure it out later. It ends up that when I updated the phone’s firmware last night, the date got turned back a year and the pics were buried in 2023. Oh technology!
