Nobu and I met in front of the Dolphin Club at 5:45 this morning. The usual group of 4-5 Dolphin Club swimmers didn’t make it this morning. Finally, a member with whom we had swam with before, Vince, appeared out of the darkness and admitted us to the club.After a quick change we discussed the route and headed down to the beach. It was 6:00 by the time we entered the bay and the shore was light enough to swim without glow sticks. It seemed like a milestone of sorts but the cold was sobering.
Vince led us around the cove and into the harbor. There is a new boat called the "Cathayer" in the harbor, so we swam around it to check it out. She is a beautiful ship, I hope to take pictures and post some next week. At 6:30 Vince headed back to the club.
I’ll be out of town this weekend, so this morning was my planned long swim for the week. Nobu was feeling strong so we decided to swim another loop around the cove to check out the Golden Gate Bridge. The sky was bright orange and the bridge was an amazing sight!
At one hour, Nobu headed back to the club. I was really tempted to join him as the cold was starting to take hold. However, I decided to head out, alone, for 30 more minutes. I swam parallel to the beach and decided swimming alone feels much colder than swimming with a friend. Just as that thought crossed my slow and cold noodle, a huge sea lion popped up right in front of me!
I don’t know how big it was, but the head was enormous. I was a bit apprehensive and felt really vulnerable. I treaded water for a bit and recalled that you should never look a strange dog in the eyes because a dog perceives direct eye contact as a challenge.
I slowly and deliberately looked away from the seal lion toward the open bay. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the huge bulging eyes of the sea lion follow my gaze and look out to sea. I couldn’t help but look back toward the beast. As I did, it turned back toward me and blinked its huge eyelids in slow motion.
Again, I looked away, this time toward the beach. Again, the sea lion also turned and looked in the same direction. The interaction was hilarious and suddenly the sea lion seemed as cute as a puppy. I smiled, put my head down and swam around my new friend toward the end of the beach. It followed me for a while and then disappeared.
I managed 90 minutes in the bay this morning. The last ten minutes were torturous, but the third leg of the swim was well worth the opportunity to share space with a seal lion.
In my defense, the sea lion I met this morning was a bit more imposing than the stock image I posted above. Although, I guess, he did look more like this photo after we got acquainted.
Have a great weekend!
