Cinco de Mayo Exciting Swim: A Big, Fat Seal Swam Next to Me.

I have been resting my body for a few days but I really needed a dose of salt water to re-energize myself today.  I was taking medicines and wearing the TENS units on my back and neck but still pain, pain, pain...
At 5:30 PM, I parked above the Pier and took some photos of the scene.  My batteries ran out quickly in my camera.  The water was nice, but a little dirty and cloudy.  It was warm.  Surfline.com has it at 59-62.  It was 62 at least, I'd guess.  Flat water outside and 2-3 foot waves in the surf.  Maybe a dozen and a half surfers on the south side.  Lots of people on the sand and in the water.  No Cinco de Mayo stuff today-they are going to have it tomorrow, the 6th, instead.  If I swim tomorrow (Sunday, el seis de Mayo), it will be late, before sunset.
I had some good excitement today on my swim.  I swam out on the north side and a little past the end of the surf zone, as I was breathing to my left, I saw this big, fat seal next to me.  It didn't scare me, though.  It dipped in front of me and as I looked to the right, it surfaced and looked back at me, whiskers and all.  Then it went away.  I talked to it a bit, "Hey seal, thanks for the thrill."  Just a quick social visit.  It was really cool.  That was the closest a seal has swum to me-and the biggest harbor seal that I have seen in the water here.  Maybe it's the warm temperature...
I swam around, trying to work on my left arm pull and my left hand entry into the water.  With a better hand entry, I was able to get a better pull.  A wave threw me around as I got close in and knocked my goggles off.  Luckily, I felt around me and grabbed them before they got away.  Cool swim.
I've been trying to memorize some poetry and a few Bible verses recently so I took the time on my swim today to recite a few poems in my head to try to see if my memory has retained them.  I reviewed Robert Frost's 'Fire and Ice,' which gave me a challenge coming up with the lines-it's been a while.  Another Frost poem that I reviewed was, 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.'  I did well on that one-I love that poem.
Then I know a bit of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty: " Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.  The wretched refuse of your teeming shores.  Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.  I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
That's all I know of that poem for now.

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