Beautiful Saturday Oceanside Pier

Today was a great day for the family to go to the beach.  The water was too cold to swim, except for wading around and some people teasing each other to jump in.  The ocean was totally flat with a moderate current moving south.  The inside waves were pretty with surfers finding some good rides on 2-3 foot waves.  The sky was clear blue, with an air temperature of 71 degrees at the beach.  Kids were playing around and digging in the sand exploring.
I swam for 34 minutes with fins; I went against the current around the pier and had a beautiful swim.  The flatness of the water was weird.  I was smelling this odor as far out as the end of the pier but about a hundred yards south like workers were laying on a hot tar roof on a building in summertime.  I'm thinking 'What the Heck' as the smell gets stronger, so I pull up and there's an idiot in a boat running south parallel to me and way too close to me.  There's no way he didn't see me because it was so clear and beautiful out there.  And what kind of engine he had-I don't know.  The boat-about a 26 footer, cabin cruiser, must have been burning oil a bunch. The stink was strong. 
After that I got around the end and headed in-getting cold.  I found some good sand dollars on the sand after the swim-people were excited because the shell and sand dollar pickings were unusually good-what with the extremely low tide.

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Day After Thanksgiving at the Beach

Well, there were tons of people wandering the beach this afternoon at a very low tide in Oceanside at the Pier.  The sky was blue and sunny, with a light wind.  Surfline.com has the water temp at 58 to 61 degrees.  The water felt warmer than yesterday-I'd guess 60 degrees.  The ocean surface was blowing southeast with a strong chop of 2-3 feet.  There was a moderate current running south.  I got in on the north side and wore fins because the water looked rather rough.  It was probably a good idea.  Getting out would have been a challenge without the fins. 
It took 26 minutes to get around in a very wide semicircle.  I enjoyed the swim (with fins life is easy) but still froze.  I stopped out past the pier to watch the swells.  There were swells rolling in out there and chop all around.  Really very special being alone in that stuff.
The shape of the waves was terrible but a dozen or more surfers were still looking for rideable waves.  God bless 'em.  They're tough-and the surprising thing is that when you see some of them come in they are just kids-girls and boys. 

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Turkey Trot Afternoon Swim on Thanksgiving

I went for a swim around the pier at 2:30 PM on Thanksgiving.  Not many people down there.  The surf was small with only a dozen surfers.  The ocean was flat.  The tide was very, very low.  My swim took 30 minutes because of cold and mild currents.  The water is still dirty after recent rains.  I think the temp of the water was 58 degrees.  It felt like a new level of cold for me. 

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."