Ultra HD Swim

I leave a little before 10:00 and it is shaping up to be a beautiful morning. Skies became overcast earlier this morning but that all cleared up over the coarse of my meetings and now there is not a cloud in the sky.

I get to the parking lot and the ocean looks smooth. I get out of my car and the sun feels warm. I walk down the stairs and just soak in the scenery in front of me. There is a marine layer floating above the water far offshore, but east of that it is just crystal blue sky.

Not a whole lot of surf happening here once I see the beach. California is getting its first WNW swell of the season this week but that is only expected to have a significant impact north pf Point Conception. South of that should see some “fun zone” surf and we are supposed to see an increase in size build throughout the day but nothing big.

As I walk into the water, it looks super clear and I can see the small waves rise as if someone is on the other end is blowing glass. I can see the shallow ocean floor like I am looking through a window.

As I begin to swim and head north, the visibility remains quite good. I remain fairly close to shore which is easy to do due to the slant of the beach. There are patches of rocks attached to thick crops of deep green sea grass waving back and forth in the current. The visibility today is the best I have seen in weeks and maybe months. I would not say it is “super clear” but I see an ocean floor throughout the entire swim.

Water temperature is about the same as my last swim a couple days ago. But with today’s sun, I can feel some heat radiating on the upper crust of the water. When I pause and move into a less horizontal wading position, my legs can feel the chill in the deeper water.

As I swim by the point in front of the lifeguard tower, I am quite close to its edge. I think maybe the closest I have ever been. It doesn’t feel like there is anything to stay out of the way of today. However I do see what waves there are breaking just inside of me. The surf right here at the point is much more pronounced than the beach break from where I start the swim. Still, it is small and gentle.

I am facing the horizon and can see the swell approaching me like rolling hills that actually are rolling. When they intersect with my northern trajectory, I feel the gentle force of the water pass through me like a sort of breeze and it momentarily raises the water temperature.

Once I am solidly north of the point, the water clarity becomes a bit more obscure but I am still aware of the bottom below me. It is not like the void I have become so accustomed to.

Thanks to the sun light, everything above the water feels like it is coming through in Ultra HD. Looking north to Monarch point, the browns and greens of the bluff that separates this beach from Three Arch Bay look vibrant and rich. As I look ahead, the tip of the point emerges and recedes in a constant rhythm with the oncoming wakes.

I pass the northern public restrooms but I refuse to turn around just yet. It feels like I just got here. So I keep swimming and swimming until the beach club gets closer and closer and eventually I just know that I had better head back.

So I turn around and I’m now facing the beach all the way back. I watch the sand and the bluff and the grass above slowly glide by. I have music in the back of the head. I like what’s playing but I can’t place where I have heard it if I even have. It may be Fall but that beach sure looks like Summer.

Soon there is the majesty of the Ritz Carlton coming into view. When I pause now to look south, the water looks super super smooth. Sometimes when I look at pictures I have taken when the water is smooth in the sun light, it looks almost fake. Can the water really look like that? I keep this in mind as I watch it now in real time and notice that same quality. Yep, this is actually what it looks like. Swimming out here does give you a unique perspective because your eyes are just above the waterline and the surface of the water dominates your entire field of view.

I am approaching the point again and watch as the water clarity becomes more sharp and crisp. Once I am directly in front of the lifeguard tower, I see this hoard of medium/small sized fish at the bottom scattered about. This visibility remains good throughout the remainder of the swim. I see rocks and sand and kelp below me move by like I am looking out the window sitting on the bus.

And here I am at my stop. Instead of turning 90 degrees directly toward the shore, I steer more diagonal to milk this swim for all that I can. There has been plenty of sand here the last couple months and I don’t really need to avoid any rocks north of the ramp.

I leave the water and head towards the stairs. The sun feels so so good and I notice that the marine layer that was offshore on the way down has dissolved quite a bit. Perhaps like last night, I will see Catalina again on my sunset walk by the Ocean Institute.