I was going to be working in San Francisco today and so I decided it was a good opportunity to swim in Aquatic Park where there is less concern about algae and where I should be getting some practice in anyway because we will be doing the Alcatraz swim in less than a month!

Angie came with me, which was nice; I’m always intimidated by the prospect of swimming in new places by myself. Aquatic Park isn’t brand new, but I’ve only swum there a couple of times and so I was very glad for the company.

We arrived late morning and the thick, gray fog was rolling away, leaving a bright, sunny day in its wake. The water was clear and gorgeous and COLD. Not actually cold by winter standards, but compared to the 70-something-degree water I’ve been swimming in lately, it felt gloriously cold. My body tingled in that wonderfully familiar way cold water brings on; a vigorous aliveness; clarity.

We decided to swim out to the entrance to Aquatic Park, where the larger San Francisco Bay begins, and where we will be swimming back from Alcatraz. It didn’t take us long to get there and, though we considered continuing on out into the bay, we decided against it. Not knowing the currents, it felt safest to stay inside of the Aquatic Park bay.

So we swam alongside the boats and over to the Dolphin Club; then back across to the other side of the bay. Swimmers darted back and forth in every direction; fast and slow; of all ages; sometimes stopping to chat and other times fully in the head-down zone of swimming. It was a festive scene, brimming with the camaraderie of open water swimming. And the water was beautiful.