I raced home from Hazel’s optometrist appointment, threw on my bathing suit, and grabbed my gear. Back in the car, doing my best to hurry through the late afternoon traffic in order to meet Arwen and Colleen for a swim, I thought, “You’re crazy, Jenny. You should be taking your poor dog for a walk, starting dinner, reading a book.” I was out of the house by 7 this morning and it’s been one thing after another since then. I know a lot of people live out most of their days in this kind of frenzied busyness, but not me. If I have more than three or four places to be in one day, I get pretty overwhelmed. 

So I was a bit frazzled when I pulled into a parking spot on the road above Keller Beach. I was also late and so I ran down to the beach, glad to see Colleen and Arwen not yet in the water. My nervous system already started shedding some of its angst as I stepped my feet into the sand. By the time we whooped our way into the water, I was relaxed and happy. My “You’re crazy,” of ten minutes earlier had turned into a, “What a good idea this was!” 

Keller Beach is in Point Richmond, nearly exactly across the bay from where we were swimming yesterday in Paradise Cove. It’s a popular spot with East Bay open water swimmers and a wonderful sunset swim destination. The Golden Gate Bridge peeks out from Angel Island in the distance and the Richmond Bridge looms closely to the right. As does the Chevron Oil Refinery, which can sometimes lend an unpleasant smell to the air. From this beach you can see the tankers crossing in the close distance and often there are a rainbow assortment of sailboats (not today, though). It’s also a popular beach for families and friends to picnic and play. Once we came for a swim and stumbled upon a wedding. It’s usually festive here and today was no exception. It helped that the weather had turned suddenly warm today.

The water felt warmer, too. While part of me misses the exhilarating shock of cold on these warmer days, it’s nice to be able to stay in longer. We swam along the shore; with each stroke I felt a little more of my body relax.

I forgot my GoPro and my phone was nearly dead so all of these pictures are Colleen’s. She takes pictures on her phone, which she keeps in a waterproof pouch around her neck. Her shots are pretty incredible and capture the feeling of letting go I felt on this swim; the tension melting into these silky waves.