Oh, I remember it well.....turning 40 years old. I was living in my condo on Yosemite Ave., working at Malibu Boats, loving life and living it to its fullest. Andrew would stay with me the 1-15 of each month. When he would depart, I would go on a cleaning frenzy......mainly 1) to release my anxiety of having to depart each other and 2) so my house would be clean for the next 2 weeks. On July 17, 2003 I put on my bikini, turned the music on really loud, sipped Smirnoff Ice and dance/cleaned the day and night away. I remember thinking, THIS IS HOW to celebrate the last day of being a certain age!! Since then, I enjoy making the last night, before turning another year older into a memory!
Before living permanently in San Francisco I put on my Bucket List to swim in Aquatic Park, located near Ghiradelli Square! Last week Dick and I ran a different route and ended up on the pier at Aquatic Park. We saw soooo many people swimming and kayaking, it spurred on the thoughts of checking this off my list! What perfect timing! What better way to start my 50's off with a SPLASH!! Hey, if Jack LaLane celebrated his 70th Bday by swimming from Alcatraz pulling 70 boats all linked together, I can overcome my fears of attacking sea creatures, cold water and crazy currents!! I started researching how to do such a thing and found numerous blogs and helpful information on the Internet....and discovered the Dolphin Club is located next to the Aquatic Park. For $6.50 you get access to their beautiful swim club, locker rooms, showers and sauna! So on the 17th I rented a special swimming wetsuit from the Sports Basement for $25 for the week!The people were so nice and helpful upon our arrival!
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| Many STUDETTES!! |
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| My locker - #82 - It was a great year! |
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| I think I'm ready! |
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| Let's get this thing on!! |
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| Almost on! |
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READY!
So, as I went swimming out, I passed two elderly men. They were telling me to be aware of the 'aggressive seals'!! GREAT!! That made me quite cautious! I left the small opening between the two piers and made my way West. I was so frustrated! The waves were coming at me and I just could not get a good swim or rhythm going. Finally, I gave up and did a breast stroke out. I planned on swimming out to the second buoy. The pic below shows the second buoy and ME swimming to it!
I kept looking around for those seals! When I made it to the buoy, I looked to the shore and saw Dick waving at me so I decided to swim to the shore and check in. I gave him my fins and headed back in, knowing the swim back to the entrance will be easier now that the waves were now at my back. I was able to get a good swim on!! But, as I looked down into the water, my mind played tricks on me and I was seeing evil, aggressive seals!!! I saw piranha too!!! CRAZY! I had to keep telling myself that I was not seeing these things!! I tried relaxing and take it all in. I was finally doing it!!! Everything online said to start out with short swims and slowly expand the time. I felt GREAT when getting out! CHECK!!! I met up with Dick, he took my wetsuit and then he went on a run while I relaxed in the sauna and took a shower. I met a very sweet girl in the sauna and we talked about the club and swimming. She swims from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge - 7 miles every year with a group of swimmers - WITHOUT a wetsuit! She says she never wears one!! YIKES!! She also told me that the earth gets most of its oxygen from our oceans and the most purest oxygen sits right on the top layer of the water. As we swim, we tilt our heads to the side and as we breathe in, we are scooping this finest layer of oxygen off and into our working lungs. She claims that is why everyone that comes out of this park has energy and youthfulness!!! It is the fountain of youth!!! hahaha!!
Will I return? YES!!! The Dolphin Club offers, for beginners, a class on How To Swim the Park and I will definitely take the class. For now, I am happy to have done it and look forward to expanding my knowledge on open water swimming and conquering my fears of the creatures of the water!
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