Oceanside Pier Rain On & Off for a Few Days

So, with the rain over the last week on and off, the water has been dirty and stirred up--so no swimming for me. Today I felt the need to get in to eliminate my saline withdrawal symptoms. I parked at the south side of the Pier and took a few pictures. The tide was up and the water was a washing machine mess. Only about six surfers trying to find a rideable wave, and half were young ladies.

The water was nasty rough, very difficult to crawl through it. I was dizzy and seasick by the time I was coming in the last ten or fifteen minutes. I puked my guts up repeatedly when I touched sand; I'm not sure whether that was from drinking too much sea water or seasickness, or just having the water kick my butt hard.

But it was just what I needed because I feel much better now; I was really down in the dumps without my fix of freezing water and misery. Then it started to lightly rain again on the way home. That means that there may not be simming tomorrow. Doggonit!

And, by the way, who are those two intrepid fellows braving the surf without wet suits...That's about 57 degree water there.

Tuesday Harbor

I stopped by the Harbor beach at Oceanside after work and the beach was nice and big. Waves about 4-5 feet, good shape, cold-about 57. Just the good surfers out there in the big stuff. I didn't have much energy so I just went in for a bit. I kicked out past the waves and surfers to check it out. I hung out a bit and watched and then I rode a couple of waves in body surfing with fins.
A beautiful day but a lack of energy.

Tsunami View Oceanside CA Fri Mar 11

So, the tsunami increased the water level a bit in Oceanside, CA., and the waves were more of a continual surging of rough water than formed waves. I went to the beach on base to look to see if it was safe to swim. They had the beach closed for safety but I took a few pictures of the water. It was too rough to swim without fins and a swimmer's safety vest but I would have been in had the beach been open.

Next I drove to the Pier and the water was too dirty to swim. There were a few dozen surfers trying to find a wave in the rough surge and a variety of lower socioeconomic characters socializing in groups at the beach. I took a few pictures and had no desire to go in the water.

Camp Pendleton Beach Swim

So, after taking two days off due to dirty water, I went to check out the water quality at the Del Mar 21 Area Beach on Camp Pendleton. The water was much, much cleaner than just a half-mile south in the city of Oceanside. This is because there is a very long rock jetty that extends out from the southern boundary of Pendleton, blocking the dirty water flow north to a great extent.
The current generally runs north to south in Oceanside. The water was cold, maybe 56, and I swam a bit just back and forth about 150 yards from the beach. A few kids with families played knee-deep in the water. No surfers seen. The tide was low but still there were waves to a solid three-feet high crashing hard in the surf zone. This beach is tricky. While it may look very calm, a powerful 2-3 foot wave can hurt you here. One hit me yesterday when I wasn't paying attention and it actually hurt my head, neck, back area.
So, my swim was probably only 600 yards total but it felt good to get back in. No fins. No webbed gloves.
I sure do swim slowly! Damn! Need to be about 50 pounds lighter, with bigger hands and feet.
No pictures today.

Dirty, Nasty Oceanside Beach Water Today

I'm home and kinda' grossed out by the water today. I feel like I have a hair stuck in the back of my throat somewhere from the water. They are dredging the Oceanside Harbor and spraying the water and dredge stuff back onto the beach farther south to replenish sand. But, how long will this go on?

I swam out a few hundred yards today and the first 70 yards or so smell and the water is gritty, nasty, and blackish like a mud puddle. Yuck!

Where do I swim?

I can't resort to a pool, can I? I'm wild. I need the space out there.