It’s my youngest daughter’s birthday today (happy 21st Hazel!) and in that way we tune in to the history of significant days in our lives, I have vivid memories of each of the last 21 May 17ths. And for the years I’ve been open water swimming, those memories involve super low tides. Mid May brings some of the lowest lows of the year.

Four years ago, May 17 was the day of my dramatic shark encounter http://jennyswimming.com/2022/05/17/shark-day-137/

This year, for the second time, I swam to the Ashby Shoal, a sandbar that appears between the Berkeley and Emeryville marinas during king tides.

There is something magical about swimming out to the middle of the bay to gather on a secret island. Today was extra special because it was warm and the bay was glassy.