Thursday, December 7th, 2023

 Swim Report from Olde Port Beach

Sunrise from Olde Port Beach 

If Avila is too dirty, too big or I just want a different experience Olde Port Beach is the best option. It is a mile to the west of Avila Beach. It is more sheltered from most of the winter surf and there is no creek there so the water can be cleaner. Yesterday the surf in Avila was bigger than it was on Tuesday so I decided ahead of time that today would be a good day to revisit this beach. I'd driven by Avila and the surf was peaking at 6+ foot with 3 footers in between. With good timing it would have been easy enough to get out and back in, but I was curious about OPB. The waves there were 2 to 3+ foot and pretty soft. Getting in was a walk in with a few wave hops.      

The swimming conditions were very nice. The air temp was 50°, the water 55° with a flat surface. There was no swell outside of the surf line but there was a surge or current running towards the shore that made swimming our along the CP Pier noticeably more difficult than it was swimming in.  There are 4 swim zone buoys at this beach. They are left in all year. The line is about 300M long. I got in at the middle, swam to the west end and back along the line and to the first crossbars on the Poly Pier, out to the end of the CPP and back the way I had come.     

While swimming parallel to the beach on the way back I had a small seal follow me and bump my feet a few times. If I turned around I just see a splash and the seal would eventually pop up about 20 feet away. Seals are curious and playful but can become dangerous if they decide that you have some food that they could take or if it is a male during breeding season and he wants you our of his territory. This one seemed to be just curious but I did not like him (or anyone) touching my feet. The seal dropped off once if found that I was too boring.     

I'll swim at Avila at 7 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

niel