"Below 50"

"What's the temp?"
I ask Amber as we stand on the beach.
"It just says 'below 50' "
she responds.

BELOW 50? Oh no! That is almost bone chilling cold. There are two temperature drops that I can feel more than any others. The first one is the drop below 53 degrees. That happened over a month ago and was a clear indication that the tropical summer temperatures were long gone and wouldn't return until at least June. The next one is the dreaded drop below 50. This is when we are clearly in the darkest, coldest days of winter. It may drop serveral more degrees before our New Year's Day Alcatraz swim. brrrrr!

Amber and I jumped with Cory just past 8 a.m. this morning. I got in the water first and headed towards the opening in route to the bad Becky buoy. The three of us stayed together as we did a reverse cove. We made a slight change in our course when we saw a harbor seal playing around the landmark we were headed towards - the repair. The repair is a section of Muni Pier that was repaired many many years ago and still looks different than the rest of the pier. I momentarily stopped to watch the seal - mostly out of curiosity, but out of envy as well. Envious of how well it is suited for this piercingly cold environment.