What a difference a day makes; yesterday’s calm, hot, summer-like swim was nowhere to be seen in the fog, wind, wavy, wild bay of today.

Arwen and I went for an afternoon swim at the Berkeley Marina. It was low tide and so we got in at the little beach by the boarded up Hs. Lordships restaurant. We stood there contemplating the churning bay, windsurfers flying by.

“For the first time I’m not excited about getting in,” Arwen said.

“Me neither,” I said. 

“But we have to, don’t we?”

“Yep.”

We stripped off our outer layers, shivering in the wind, and slogged through the mud into the water.

Despite our trepidation, it felt wonderful. Against the cold air, the water seemed comparatively warm and the wild waves were fun once we were in them. We frolicked and played in the surf.

I had the notion of swimming in a heart pattern for Valentine’s day and so we set off straight out into the bay, dodging windsurfers and attempting to makes shapes. As we headed back in for the downward slope of the first arc of the heart, we realized there was a current and it was hard work swimming back toward shore. So we abandoned that heart and beelined back for the beach. 

We tried again, swimming in the other direction, but apparently, I’m no good at spatial awareness, because my efforts were not very heart-like. 

We spent a few more minutes playing in the waves and then headed back.

For two people who were reluctant to jump into the bay today, we sure had a fabulous time. Another reminder that it’s always going to be a good idea to swim.