Wednesday Evening, June 22, 2011

When I arrived at Avila Wednesday evening I thought that maybe I was here on the wrong day. The town was packed with people like it is on Fridays for the farmers market. But school is now out and it has been hot in other parts of the state, so I guess the summer crowds have finally arrived. It was pleasant and sunny, but not hot and even with the mild temperature there were a lot of people in the water. All of those people just bobbing around in the waves started a nice train of thought that was confirmed when I pulled up the thermometer and saw 63.5! I did a double take, confirmed that I was not reading 10 degrees too high, and started making plans for a very nice long swim. The Port, Diablo and Santa Maria buoys were all reading in the upper 50's at this time so I have no idea why Avila was 5 degrees warmer than everywhere else, but I'm more than glad to enjoy the gift. The tide was coming in, there was a slight breeze out of the SE and only an occasional wave over 2'. Rob had been in that morning and said that the water had felt warmer than last Sunday, but not in the 60's. Rob, Ryan and I swam out to the buoy line on the left side of the pier, turned right and went under the pier and down to the last buoy at the creek. From there we went over to the second set of cross bracing on the Poly Pier, back to the end of the Avila Pier, to the second buoy on the left side of the pier and back along the buoy line to the pier and in. This was 2.3K and we were in the water for 50 minutes. The only place that the water felt cool/cold was in the white water at the shore. Everywhere else it felt great, from pleasantly cool to way warm. Some summers we have never seen a water temperature in the 60's so this was an unexpected treat. I expect that the water will be back to a more normal temperature on Sunday.

niel