Rarely have I seen such commotion over Fluffy! Close the beach? What's a mermaid to do? Well I waited until 2pm Thursday...they said it would be open by then and LG John, said it was down graded to a a strong advisory (I think mostly due to the rising surf). Upon first glance, past the Channel 7 News wagon, no one was in the water, no kayaks, no SUPs, no paddle boards and no swimmers. Five lifeguards were hanging out at the shack and 2 more roving around up top answering questions about the shark sightings and the surf. When I came down, John greeted me with "okay, now were getting back to normal" (Boy do I have him fooled LOL). Eric and John gave me the low down re the conditions upon hearing my intent to swim to the Marine Room. Strong surf and current, with occasional 10ft faces, waves breaking at the buoys, watch the rips, stay away from any rocks...basically Winter conditions with Summer temps. I got about 69.8F at the 1/4 buoy. I figured with 5+ guards and me, the only swimmer, my odds were pretty good...took my fins just in case.
The looks on peoples face and the occasional comments were cracking me up as I prepped for going in. Just as I got down on the sand, a HUGE wave came in...I glanced back up at Eric and John, yikes!!..."just wait for the set to pass and go for it" There is such power and majesty, soaring emotion and absolute calm finality about the Ocean. You can fight him, but you won't win, he'll tear you apart...or you can peaceably caress and stroke him and have the most amazing experience of your life...yes, I'm still talking about the ocean :o)
I won't say it was the 'best swim EVAR' but it was what I needed. Made it over to the Marine Room from the 1/2 in record breaking speed and found, amazingly enough, there was good viz with all the usual critters (what??) Who knew? Coming back was a challenge, but loved playing in the waves at the 1/4 and at Take-Off. Bottom line...Loved it! When I got out I saw Harry going out for a body surfing session, Ken checking it out and Cy came down with his fins. Later, ran into Anne coming down for some fun in the surf...yes, we ARE getting back to normal again (never saw hide nor hair of Fluffy by the way).
PS: Laura, the red tide is long gone!
Was there today. Most of the kelp was torn to shreds. Thw waves were only 5 ft now and the lifeguards were letting the kids play on the beach again. Played it safe and used the fins. No sharks!
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