A for Adventure!

I know, you heard, "the best swim of the year!", Bill admitted that there were so many great swims, and that certainly this was the best one we could remember! Ruth was game, Carol,  Annamarie and Shayne were in -- so we bounced around on the GINORMOUS, super-humongous waves, we laughed and headed out to the A, then tried to find the B, then even more challenging, was heading in towards shore to find the pencil buoys were the waves seem to GROW.  The poor 1/2 was gone -- drifting onto shore... the apparently hadn't weighted it down enough yet for the size of this storm... 

Over at the point before Boomer's

We'd go up the hill and down as we tried to keep one eye ahead and the other on where the heck everyone else was.  Bill, Annamarie and Carol were just ahead of us on the way to the last stick and a huge wave broke over them and carried them away -- Ruth and I were thinking -- YIKES!  The PERFECT STORM WAVE!!!!  ahhh....thinking too, it all started out so well... then, moments later we saw all the happy heads bobbling up and looking back at us -- great -- all accounted for then another giant wave crashed through... at that point we decided to beeline for the 1/4 and stay away from the shores.  


That's when we ran into one lone solitary swimmer (the ONLY other swimmer that whole day) and we said YES!  Hovik's the man -- taking these waves on his own!  I was worried he was a little crazy and so, apparently was Shayne who offered to stay with him on his swim. The rest of us headed towards to the cove to see if we could get back out of the raging seas.  Bill was left to gather us 4 lovely mermaids and lead them safely into the cove.  Nice work!  The waves looked big, but had no power, so it was fun to play and we truly looked and felt pretty dang bold!  What an adventure!  Give it an A!  

Anyone see a heart here?  

Here's a few snaps after we sat on the grass (no rain, blue skies, puffy clouds)... Ruth made gingersnaps (so yummy) and we had cocoa and snacks with Annamarie, Carol and Shayne... Our dearest Ruth came with the Mighty tuckered-out C's to get some pizza and wander in the glow of our adventure.


We missed all not there -- truly was an amazing swim!

Sitting on the rocks at Boomer's.
Couldn't get the size of these waves in my iPhone shots!

Here's the A -- snapped this photo of the rock we're standing on --  someone had
carved an 'A' into the rock to mark our swim today, seriously, no, really!  A for ADVENTURE! 

This is the point just outside the cove... still tough to see how rough.

Even the seals wanted a rest on the rocks...

Guess who? Imitating the lounging sea lions...

The sea is a such a magnificent and magical place. We're all so fortunate to share this together...

♥

~cary

Saturday SWELLious Fun!

Turned out to be a beautiful day at the cove... sticks are out and we had some merfriends after all. It was Shayne, Ruth, and the Mighty C's off to the A, the B, and then a criss-cross tour of the sticks to the half, quarter and ridin' those swells in... some nice big rollers coming in, but they kindly headed to the shores today and missed the cove. Water felt a little cooler, around 62ish. So nice here, a baby elephant seal dropped in to rest and rested ALL day with lifeguards and Bill trying to coax it back to sea... cute guy, though I don't think he was well.

I snapped a few pics and a video. Ruth and Hovik took some videos. We had a nice casual picnic on the grass with Carol and her family, Shayne, Ruth and all... Dianadarling and Janie stopped by after a later swim. I brought my chai and some blueberry scones and we whiled away a few pleasant hours on the grass...

We'll be back tomorrow at 11. I think lots of swimmers will join the pod -- Carol, Janie, Shayne, Annamarie, Ruth and anyone else that shows...

This little guy sums up how we felt after the swim... aahhhh... let's take a nap!

~cary

Sundowner bliss...

Such a gorgeous evening swim -- Bill and me, Ruth, Steve and Janie's double dip made for a great way to end the day. Circled the new sticks and hit the half, then up to the A and in... the smooth rollers were a delight. We saw a huge fried egg jelly and Ruth and I spotted an egret standing, yes, that was STANDING on the kelp while presumably waiting for dinner to swim past... water temp was sublime -- no pants for Ruth, Steve and Janie -- whoohoo! Thanks for the sweet bliss swim!
See photo I posted on Facebook.
~Cary

Thursday swim

Nice swim today. At 11:00 there were still some big rollers left over from the previous swell. Water temp 61 at the beach, 65 everywhere it matters. Laura, Toni and Lynn swam to the spankin brand NEW half mile buoy, to the A, the .25 and back. The 'brats' (sea lions) were out in force today. It was so nice to get back in the salt water. ahhhh.

BTW, did anybody notice how calm and flat the water was AFTER we were done? I came back out from showering at the club (1:00) and it was like a whole different ocean! Jeez.

3 Mile Naples Island, Long Beach Swim

My friend Lynn and I spent the night at Beth’s after an “Clothing Exchange Party” (presumably for charity, though we all came home with a small tidy bundle of clothes). Beth arranged a swim around Naples Island this morning. This would be the 1st time for me swimming Naples and only the 3rd time swimming 3 miles! And as luck would have it, t’was herself as our intrepid kayak escort. We figured the water was probably about 59-60F, mod current with some delicious warm spots...not even going to think about what created said warm spots (ugh). Such beautiful homes, and boats and tons of kayakers, crew, canoeing to look at while swimming and LOOK OUT...nearly getting run over by a kid in a sabot! Luckily Beth gave heads up. A buoy tried to run us over and near the end I kept wanting to turn into the wrong slip. Can't blame a girl for trying. It was a wonderful weekend with wonderful people...I like this swim/travel thing.

Impromptu swim...sorta Wednesday 5/18/11 4:45pm

We should have checked with Janie sooner, as our decision to swim at the shores was well, futile! We, dianadarling,Ruth, and C rose ended up duck diving, fighting currents and just having a playful time in those big ole waves. The howling wind was worse than the cold water. Janie reported waves breaking at B ,but no waves inside the Cove...oh well. Hope to see you all on Friday at the Cove!

no pants fun in the sun in june

sunday swim report: rain dumping on me, windshield wipers going crazy, dark and windy, waiting for everyone to bail, asking dianadarling if she was really really sure because the weather you know... but all hung in there, lo and behold! warm sun, no wind, clear and dry! WTF? it was meant to be! despite the overall tiredness i felt i happily trailed the pod to the 1/4, the a, the b, back to the 1/4 where we played with a kayak paddle (new toy, new toy!) and back in where we were thanked by our guards for securing the paddle to the buoy, (with flair i might add, thanks to dianadarling's cute idea). while sitting in the jacuzzi we decided that we needed to celebrate something, anything and soon! we could think of no compelling reason except for lemoncello and sangria so there you have it, home brewed hi test alcohol to launch the summer swims, it's the american way, people! look at your calendars for june so we can pull it together, it would be great to have some relaxation with people we adore in the warm sun after a swim, drink some everclear from the bottle and eat pot brownies. while not wearing pants.
OMG! this is so exciting!
lftc-out

Missed the boat?

This is a test, to see if I can link an image or photo into the blog without having to use my file space in Google's Picassa (where I'm all out of room). I hope this works... Here's some humor too...

Wonderfulious weekend swims...

You who were there know -- beautiful swims, great peeps and good times! Thanks for the great swims on Saturday (HUGE pod of swimmers) and Sunday, a small, but mighty group. Both days were wonderfulious! Water's a bit nippier, maybe 60-61 and some wild and rolling waves to have fun on. Saw the leopards on Saturday at the Marine Room -- always a treat! Sunday it was just plain gorgeous all day... windy but beautiful. Had a wonderful soak in the jacuzzi with LFTC, Marta and Diana darling to finish a perfect swim.

As Ruth said today from Joshua Tree (and yes, we missed you!) -- We are so lucky!

Yes, lucky indeed.

Bottom Scratchers

Before diving masks, fins and other equipment were even invented, this group began skin diving in the waters around San Diego. Only a select, 19 members were ever initiated into this pioneering waterman's club. Founding members include Glen Orr (far left), Ben Stone (center) and Jack Prodanovich (far right) pictured here at Seven Caves, La Jolla.
I put little book together to honor those watermen and the rich history of our coast.
~Cary

Click here to view this photo book larger

my new dress

ten big ones

i didn't get to say good bye to part of our giant crew of ten today, the mighty c's, RUTH! and carol since they had to go further and further still, out to sea in fact while many of us chose the inside, the cave side to see what we could see. we saw quite a bit of flowing grasses, kelp, fishies of various colors here and there, some clear spots mixed in with some murk. al and i discussed tuanting some kayakers and then hijacking an empty one but it was getting too cold so back to shore we swam. we made sure that the mc's, and RUTH! were sighted, we hoped carol had come in long before as we saw only three caps coming in. the temps have dropped a little but i felt it was close to the same, maybe 60 or 61 but i was amped up on dayquil so i couldn't be sure. all in a fab swim with the following superstars: cftc, sharkbait, the mighty c's, RUTH!, carol, c rose and al, ralph who is so the man and me. we did have doug sort of nearby but he chose TO BE ALONE! as he always does. another time we'll have to kidnap that boy.
happy travels to ralph who is leaving us for 3 weeks to road trip and good luck to marta who is racing a little race at moonlight sunday. as for all the rest: until we meet again! which is sunday, right? sunday? SUNDAY, RIGHT? 
lftc-out

59 degrees what the...

Ralph and I braved the wind, no sun, and cold water today. It was very low tide and we were wanting to go where no man or woman has been in a long time so we swam around the point to the southern waters of weird colored fish, giant star fish, lot's of kelp, and my favorite...rocks with nooks and crannies with swaying grasses. It was getting pretty rough so we decided to go over to the caves for a look see. Saw schools of leopards, some BIG ones, and a big Bass. Viz was ok, it got pretty swelly with waves breaking on us outside of 1/4 buoy. Seals were of course following me and playing around with each other. All in all a great adventure. We earned our hot tub today!

So happy a Wednesday -- first cave swim... woohoo!

A sundowner swim not to be missed!  Lots of swim friends on deck just getting out of the water from the 4 PM swim... the 5 PMers were lining up -- Kathy, Ruth, Shane, Don, Don't friend, Ann Marie, Bill and me filled up the group. Hovak, Diana, Janie and the 4 PMers went through the cave so I really wanted to go... I've been wanting to go through and feel the beauty and spirit and it was a beautiful evening.

So off to the A, the B, then as the gang looked like they were heading off to the tower (we were supposed to go to the 1/4) I looked behind me and they began swimming in the right direction -- who were they following?   Then, the magical time to swim through the cave. Shane was our safety guide, Don lead the pack and we all made it through with perfection... so clear and gorgeous inside. I really was amazed... Ruth and I felt brave!  Such fun...

Here's a pic I took just as we left showing the calmness of the gorgeous evening.

Cave swim delight!

~Cary

lost at sea, bobbing.

search and rescue debriefing with a little swimming thrown in for fun: tuesday around noon claudia and i swam on the fly, hooking up with marta and steve and ralph to swim at the shores. despite some big surf we all made it out but i was totally seperated from the pod. i suppose i may have drifted south, way, way south, in the caves almost. no, i was caught in a big set and when i made it past the surfline, i could not see anyone. i looked high and low and by high i mean i was propelling myself up and out like a pogo stick, i'm sure the the guards thought i was crazy. i enlisted a kayaker who could not see them either so i bobbed. and bobbed, and bobbed. i figured that i had a very good chance that they'd come looking for me as claudia was in the mix. she's a serious partner, if you're with her, you're with her and that's that. steve thought i left to go find RUTH! and cftc since they were on the other side, ralph and marta thought i bailed the surf to go lay on the sand but no, i was bobbing in the sea and the sun like a cork. i finally saw the guards cruising the beach with my crew right behind and then they were in the water, like a special forces team coming to get me! i continued to bob and watch this amazing crew rip right the still whomping surf, no diving under, no waiting, just straight through. that was way cool. we all celebrated and swam on. 61/62 by my watch, sun sun sun and light currents, no genuine viz but it felt good. upon our exit we saw a dolphin frenzy! it was a very good day to swim and i love my partners, from the past, the present and future, every single one. also, if you need pointers on bobbing for self entertainment i'll be conducting classes for free. sign up now.

and now, this:

lftc-out

Cold by any other name is just cold...

Today, things did dip back down and drizzle on our sweet mother's day swim parade a tiny bit... not to be undone, we did it! Ruth, Leonard, B & C out there sloggin' it out in the rain. We  went into ward speed, just to get our wetsuits on!  The water was much clearer today and it was smooth and sweet, though a bit nippier than we had hoped for -- yes, we are so very SPOILED here. Hit the 1/4,  A,  B and then zoomed into home base to get warm.  The board said 58 and I believe it... certainly quickened up my stroke!  Saw lots of lovely jellies, mostly looking like the fried egg sort... a seal poked his head up to say hi at the 1/4. Ruth REFUSED to go near the cliffs or Marine Room, mumbling something about a monster out there...

Is there a monster out there? Ruth sent an email report on a near nine foot sevengill, but a monster?  Be nice... even a sevengill has feelings... and apparently seven gills?

Here's a cool video (taken in 2009!) of the one that may still be around... he doesn't look like a monster...



Missed you that didn't make it... we had a joyous swim.  Hope to see you next week.
~cary

Big Chill Samoa Party 2011

Swimming for Mothers...everywhere!

Such a beautiful swim today -- Carol joined Cami, Bill and I for a cool ocean surprise!  The temps dropped in the sea and in the air... wow-- Cami rocked with no wet suit.  Mighty strong, Cami! We quickly raced from the 1/4 to the Marine Room where we saw a few bat rays in the murky water... Bill and Cami spotted a cool looking orange colored jelly fish... lots of sea lions frisking about. Carol and I headed to the caves and Carol swam through her cave...  a special day on a special weekend... with very special people.


Sorry we missed the Big Chill party, but glad that Marta shared the fun pics on Facebook (see, you all need to be on Facebook). Marta, can you post some of those on the blog (for our Facebook hold-outs)?  Phoenix looks quite stunning in her coconuts and I needed very dark sunglasses to look at LFTC's brightest of the bright mumu... Diana also looked loverly...and I didn't see Doug (or Janie) wearing coconuts, which I thought had been part of the excitement... still, I'm glad our pod represented all of us not in attendance -- you did good, dear merfriends!


We'll be out there tomorrow swimming again for mother's everywhere. Hope to see you there!
SWUGS! (swim hugs)
♥♥♥♥  
~cary

yesterday... all my troubles seemed so far away...

... wow, the delight.... warm water, calm flat seas, no wind, no chop, all glass, sometimes life is so easy. Not that the swim was easy (to be certain!) this old gal is learning the moves all over again, went without my shorties, no wetsuit, no crutch... roll, glide, wait.. what? How? LFTC, CFTC, Lolai and Claudia Rose went 1/4 then towards the caves (oye, more murk... where are those clear spots I saw from the top again?), then towards Marine Room then the others bailed back for pressing engagements while the FTC's went to rescue a kayaker who needed nothing from us, across glassy slicks to the 1/4 looking for Mr. Turtle, then across kelp to A and back in. LFTC had her glide going OFF, could hardly keep her feet in view. Glorious days of Spring. Nice temperature, clearish on the inside. Dead newborn sea lion rolling around in the shallows, leprechaun Bill went to take care of business.

Survivors, thats all I got for you...

Kvetch! Kvetch!

your RUTH! swam sans wetsuit today - practically nekked.
beautiful swim with carol - glassy, warm, clear clear clear.
A B 1/4 caves and in.
but we headed back into the swim lane to avoid the snarky sharky route.

ya really want me to keep posting?

Wednesday near perfection...

Wednesday we had a nice little pod -- Ruth, Wendy, and the mighty C's and we meandered out to the A, then B, then 1/4, then A and met up with Kathy, Don and a few others so headed back to the 1/4 because it was so BEAUTIFUL-BLUE-SKIES-and-warm-temps out.

Yes, indeed, warm, 66 degree waters are making me think about dropping the wetsuit one day... the water was smooth, a little chop and lovely, sunny skies around 5 when we headed out.

Thanks to our swim pals, it just keeps getting better.
And that's my post from yesterday, "dammit"!

~cary

say it with me...

swimmers who have been swimming (verified by eye witnesses) but aren't posting, i have only one thing to say about today, one word, two syllables:
dammit! say it with me-d a m m i t. good job! now go swim and then post.

she is in a very good mood

monday  noon, claudia, ralph, lftc, marta swam out in f**king STELLAR conditions! flat and quiet and cerulean blue, hot sun, no wind, near naked bodies, naked feet all around, we swam out to swim the caves, marta and claudia went in, ralph and i stayed out in the sun and did a little kayak traffic control to protect our swimmers, besides, the caves are cold! we swam along the coast to the 'sharky' area and it was so clear that i was a little freaked out, it has been so long since any viz was to be had that i had forgotten what we we have been swimming over. it was almost too clear. oh yeah, there's stuff down there! we swam sort of outward to the virtual 1/2 and had an amzingly easy swim back, i had forgotten how much fun it is to swim in flat seas all the way. (wow, i'm getting very forgetful, who are you people? who am i?) marta picked up a couple of sea lions who wanted to taste her feet and ralph said he saw a tail, a tell tale tail, a shark shaped tell tale tail but not the body. sharks do this sometimes, they are shy.
you guys must swim this week, every chance you get, grace the sea with all your glory, she's in a good mood and will happily have you visit.
lftc-out

a for realsies swim report since i didn't hear porn references today

sunday noon bill was lying in the grass with shane while we all waited on deck, sweating but i digress: the mighty c's, RUTH! cftc, marta sharkbait, dianadarling who is just too darling for her own good, leonard (yeah!) lftc swam in beautiful weather, warmish seas (64) out to the a then across all the way. some of us went way north, some of us watched not really wanting to work too much harder and waited for them and back to the cove. 3 of us saw a cute harbor seal but not much more sea life today, a zillion people at the shores and the cove but those of us in the water are the bomb! thanks to tall my fab partners today! graditude is attitude!

i have one funny thing to tell you: dave and i were having our usual 'if i get eaten by a shark, you can't remarry' discussion pre swim today, he told me that i wouldn't die, i'd just end up plugged into something at the hospital. after i told him i didn't want to be plugged into anything he told me that i shouldn't worry, he'd unplug me. even if it was just an electric blanket, he'd yank it. this is true love, people. learn from it.

lftc-out

women who climb! and ralph who is so the man!

swim report friday noon: nice quiet cove, all looked pretty sweet, we decided to take cami to the marine to body surf since we have been having so much over there. we made to about the first little cove past the caves when the swell stepped up, really steep, really high, really big! wendy tried to body surf and almost could have. we saw huge waves breaking outside and onto the caves, we hightailed it to the a, climbing up and up and over and down and down, over and over. at the a we decided that we needed to press on to the b to prove that we could. the swell action out so far was a trip, i kept gazing in wonder. i think it was the first time i'd been out in such clean and big conditions. it was amazing. cami ditched her wetsuit for the first time since last summer and declared herself a badass and i agree. ralph who is so the man went nakie too and rocked the swim with his quiet and serious ways. dianadarling was her usual hardcore self blazing along, laughing all the way, ha! ha! ha! (i hear jingle bells verse here, don't ask why) wendy came along for her 1st spring swim trying to catch waves and whooping it up, we had a pretty cool swim. thanks to my oh so coool partners for being with me. if they had not been, i'd still be out there, bobbing around.
lftc-out

Pod of Eight on May Day

Fab and Great

The Team of Eight

Swam to the Tower

With Style and Power

The Return...Low and High

A Wee Seal Pup did Spy

To the Cove 'midst Sea Plants

Landed the Team 'with no Pants'

~m

Thanks for an amazing May Day Swim !