“Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.”
It’s always a good idea to start out a new week with a positive message from Thich Nhat Hanh, even if I’m not 100% sure I know what it means.
I’ll have to cogitate on it because the nuance is a bit elusive right now, like I think I get it, but it’s just out of reach, which is annoying.
At the end of the day, there is nothing but love.
Such an amazing wave pic from Carlsbad. I can’t take credit for the photo, but I have the photographer’s permission to use it.
Here’s how he did it: he was swimming, not sitting on a board; simply in the right place at the right time to reveal a little love.
If you look really hard, you can see another, smaller, heart.
Do you see it?
There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide. — Rachel Carson
This particular beach is a favorite for locals to surf and tidepool, so we are always a bit vague as to the specific location to protect it from being overrun by ill-mannered tourists who trash our beaches.
Surf is forecasted to be more than eight feet today, but this is what I saw early this morning.
I hope you can access this video because that’s where I was lucky enough to capture the jumping dolphins!
Surfers having fun!
Do you remember your firsts?
I do. I remember my first ballet class, my first pair of pointe shoes, my first ski trip along with my best ride down Stump Alley at Mammoth, and even my first bra, lolz
Not having grown up on the west coast, I didn’t have a connection to the ocean until high school.
I recall my first time on a surfboard…it did NOT go well, and I almost broke my nose. This was not the sport for me. Decades later, I gave it another try. Once again, it didn’t go well. I ended up rolling and rolling under some giant NOT BEGINNER waves, and the next day I was covered in the ugliest bruises. That was IT for me.
Angel Girl takes gymnastics and was obsessed with cartwheels. Tenacious girl that she is, she tried and practiced and kept at it until the mechanics of a cartwheel finally clicked and she perfected it. “Watch me, Grandma!” “See, I can do it now!”
What an amazing sense of accomplishment and mastery of a difficult skill. “Great job, girl!”
Even though we live so close to the ocean, the original Angel Boy didn’t really like to surf, mainly because without his glasses, he can’t see a thing, and it was a scary endeavor unless he had a buddy with him. He’d boogie board a lot, but never really got into surfing until he started wearing contacts.
Now he has a quiver of boards here and at his house, too.
To encourage AB 2.0, he’s been taken along for (gentle) rides on a surfboard since he was about a year old.
This past weekend, it finally clicked for him, too. He stood up and surfed his first legit wave!
This is a bad photo because I took it from the video, but I can feel T’s sense of pride. It didn’t matter that it was a small wave: HE DID IT, and OMG, he’s a carbon copy of his dad.
Predictably, you couldn’t get him out of the water after that. He’s completely hooked, and now Dad has a lifelong surfing buddy. As an aside, is there anything cuter than a little grom in a wetsuit?
I hope they never forget these significant firsts, and since we have video of all of it, I can imagine they’ll show their own children these amazing accomplishments.
Grandma pride RULES!
What sparks joy? Two beach visits in the same day, one in the morning and one as the sun set.
No whales or dolphins I’m sad to report; but it was still a gorgeous spring morning in SoCal.
Later, the ocean was wild and loud and exhilarating.
A close up pic of the holes in the coastal beach bluff, where I sat during high tide.
Sunset surf sesh. The line of surfers parallel the horizon.
All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells.
“The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.”
–Langston Hughes
There was a high surf advisory and I really wanted to see the big waves which were supposed to peak on Sunday, breaking 6-9 with 10-12 foot sets.
More rain is on the way, but the ocean was electric with healing energy. The beach was packed with surfers and onlookers. I took a lot of pics and sent them to the original Angel Boy to make him feel bad for missing out on a great surf sesh, ‘cos that’s the kind of mom I am, haha.
“I need the sea because it teaches me.”
–Pablo Neruda
“The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.”
–Vladimir Nabokov
“The sea cures all ailments of man.”
– Plato
“But the sea which no one tends is also a garden.”
–William Carlos Williams
“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea,
whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…”
–Herman Melville
“Protecting the ocean is not just about saving marine life; it’s about safeguarding our own future. Our fate is intimately connected to the health of the ocean.”
–Greta Thunberg
Even though it rained last night, the waves were forecasted to be even BIGGER than yesterday, so I went down to the beach again. The sidewalk was packed with people and cameras and video equipment, all searching for the holy grail of the perfect shot.
I’m disappointed to report that the news was false; the waves weren’t any bigger than yesterday, at least not here. This was definitely not in the ten to twelve-plus range that I had anticipated.
The only surfer I was was one crazy teenager who was determined to surf the blown out waves. I walked out on the jetty to take this video, which wouldn’t have been a smart choice if the waves had been as giant as predicted.
I did spy this giant log, a rare sight on our beach. I wish I could have dragged it home with me, but it was too heavy.
Even though the reality didn’t live up to the hype, it was still beautiful, and now it’s raining again.
This is what it was like down the coast at Swamis.
Happy almost 2024!
High Surf Warning, dangerously large breaking waves of 8 to 12 feet with sets to 15 + feet.
The larger waves are south of where I am –at Sunset Cliffs and La Jolla, but I went to my local beach to check it out, and the surf was impressive here, too. In Northern California, they’re reporting ginormous waves of 28 to 33 feet, up to possibly forty feet! I’d love to see waves like that from a safe distance, of course.
Again, there were dolphins, way out beyond the waves, and no way to get a decent photo.
These are two Imgur videos; some people can open them, and I’ve heard that a few can’t, so I’m sorry in advance. They’re pretty cool. It was a lovely morning.
There have been highly unusual sightings of orca whales in San Diego county but I didn’t see them either, I’m sad to report.
From TMZ, check out these videos of Santa Cruz and Ventura!
https://www.tmz.com/2023/12/29/massive-socal-waves-crash-street-onlookers-dangerous-flood-advisory-ventura/
What a way to end 2023!
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 