Swell

An old buddy of mine from my home town of Warren, Ohio started a Facebook site for all us Warren natives from the old times. He already has nearly thirteen hundred members. They’ve already come up with logos for the site which is called WOOF (Warren Ohio Old Farts). I’ve already traded thoughts with people I went to grammar, junior high, and high school with, along with played in a tenth grade marching band and two years of football as a junior and senior. It’s like our own Twilight Zone. They’ve come up with posts about stuff I haven’t thought about in over forty years. I was going scuba diving last Saturday anyhow, so I made a WOOF movie at the beach and underwater. They loved it. I didn’t go into the part that happened after I took the underwater movie.

I’ve mentioned my wife St. Joyce’s favorite beach down the ways from my dive spot. She loves sitting there on the rocks, and there is a rock outcropping that extends well out into the ocean where people go climb around on the rocks when the waves aren’t blasting it. It’s in a more open water area, instead of a cove like Otter’s Point where I dive. After finishing the underwater movie for WOOF, I caught sight of a seal streaking by, heading in that direction. I already had my compass readings so I followed to see if I could get Sammy the Seal on video too. For the first time ever, because the water wasn’t as icy cold for some reason, I lost track of distance and time. I was watching my air gauge. When I got down to 600 lbs, which is a good safe amount normally, and I wasn’t catching Sammy, I surfaced to check things out.

When I broke the surface, I was going up on a swell that lifted me way up where I could see everything on shore, including people poking around in the rocks on Joyce’s beach. A swell in open water ocean terms is the draw you see when all the residual water that’s crashed onto the beach retreats to form huge lifts in the ocean outside the beach area. It’s fun when you’re out there, and not too close to the rocks… and in the right dive area. When you’re lifted up, it’s like being on skyscraper rising out of the ocean. From the looks of the people below me, I figured I was up on about a forty foot swell. I only enjoyed the elevator rush for a few minutes. I knew I had a long surface kick back to Otter’s Point. I was right. It took me nearly forty-five minutes to make it around the two rock walls I’d passed to get unknowingly to Joyce’s beach. Needless to say, I’m going to be less complacent out there, and let Sammy come to me, or wait to see him until the next time.  :)

Anyway, it was a beautiful day in Pacific Grove otherwise. Here’s the movie I made for WOOF.