It felt great to be home again at my familiar Albany bulb with my swimming gang. Crystal clear skies greeted us this morning, along with strong wind. I thought the water was going to feel warm after my significantly colder swims these last few days, but it did not. Maybe past a certain point, cold water feels more or less the same? My hands could tell the difference, though. 

Arwen, Sheila, and I had a lovely swim until at about fifteen minutes in when the seal came to join us. We heard rumors that our resident seal had been especially frisky lately—yesterday it nudged and bumped one solo swimmer all the way back to shore. So it wasn’t really a surprise when I looked up and saw it mere feet from us, but it did send me into my usual seal-induced panic. While I wish my first instinct had been to pull out my GoPro and take its picture, I’m sorry to say I quickly swam away instead. The seal kept a close eye on us for the rest of our swim, but thankfully, did not make contact.