BURRR IT'S COLD..NOT REALLY

In the summer months, I normally get up between  5:45 and 6:00 am  to head out swimming. In the winter it is hard to be motivated because it's 60 something degrees. I bet you feel sorry for me now! Ok 60 degrees is cold for us. I stall waiting for the sun to break out to make the swim more enjoyable.

The first thing I do (after saying good morning  to Jesus)  is pool out at teh oceans to the conditions. It did look cold today.

I drove over and picked up Linda which is standard operating procedure. She kept saying how cold she was. Before we were addicted, we would just look at one another and both say at the same time "COFFEE" and the car would take a detour straight to Starbucks.

As usual, we made our way down the the pier and as the "water jogging" ladies were getting out of the water  they kept saying "it is soooo cold out there today". They even had wetsuits on!   I have NO idea how water joggers keep warm to begin with. It has to be freezing just floating around for an hour chit chatting in the water. You have to MOVE when you first get in the water just to get the blood pumping.

Admittedly, there is a cold area right at the pier and extends about 1/4 mile out, then it warms up dramatically.  I have to tell you honestly, it is NEVER fun doing that first dunk.

We were prepared to see icebergs when we got in. To our delight, it seemed warmer than usual!

About 10 yards into the swim, I see a little octopus on the bottom. I tried to play with him and he inked me! He was so cute, but I probably ruined his day.

The water was even more crystal clear than on Sunday.  Here is a picture of the conditions today and a picture of one of our friends "Freckles" an Eagle Ray.

We swam our usual course to the Coast Guard buoy, then back to the Kings Buoy and swam around there looking for Manta Rays or Eagle Rays. Nothing.

We swam back in closer to the buoy lines. It was like a freeway. I thought I was swimming the ironman for a minute or two. Heads everywhere. We normally swim wide of the guide buoys, now I know why (its normally calmer wider out but a bit precarious due to boat traffic). I had one swimmer collision and several almost collisions. We raced a nice young man coming in, he gave us a bad time about beating him so badly. We quickly pointed out he did not have fins on, we did! Small detail.

By the time we got out, the sun was up and it was another one of those amazing beautiful God given days in Hawaii.