Dana Strand Swim Report

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These cliffs aren’t going anywhere

Left the house at 9:30 this morning. Cloudy skies and about 66 degrees. Much cooler today than the Santa Ana wind weather we have had the last couple days.

When I get to the parking lot, I can see small bits of blue poking through the cloud but it doesn’t look like we are going to be seeing any dramatic changes soon.

At least it’s not foggy. About 8 PM last night a thick fog bank consumed the coast here and I was wondering if it would remain until morning. It did not.

The water looks like it has a bit of texture to it but fairly smooth.

Even though it is cloudy, I can feel a bit of warmth resting on my back as I head down the stairs.

There are some decent waves rolling in. Not particularly big waves but good shape and big enough to make it worth a surfer’s while.

I get in the water and dive in soon after. Today I remember to put my goggles over my eyes first. The temperature is cool - mid 60s - about the same as Tuesday. It’s a “refreshing” cool and not a “oh my god” cool.

I swim and swim and swim and I eventually reach the southern cliffs. It was bound to happen. I’ve done this swim several hundred times in the last few years and I always reach these cliffs. I get the sense they are not going anywhere any time soon. I mean “soon” in a geological kind of way.

Lots of fish here. Water visibility is so so, which is pretty good for the last several weeks. There are a few Seagulls flying around.

I make the trek back north. Every now and then the light level intensifies as the windows in the cloud slide under the sun. There is definitely more blue in the sky but the overall ambience is still very much on the cloudy side.

The swim feels great. I am just emptying myself into this ocean and enjoying the water and the horizon. Moods wash over me. Memories float on the water and I feel their gravity. Feelings and emotions are so weird. Sometimes it feels like I construct this linear narrative that I perceive to be the architect of my emotional journey. Other times they just feel like some kind of random fractal tie die streaming through my energy field pulling me this way and that with no rhyme or reason. Like giant volcanic plumes of color weaving in and around each other.

I can’t believe its time to head back to shore already.