Posted by Starfish [not to be confused with srfsh :)] on August 02, 2002 at 09:20:57:
My buddy and I are planning on going to La Jolla today, but we get off to a late start, so we decide to head to Malaga Cove instead. I've seen Malaga topside, I've seen it from the beach, but never underwater. I wonder what it's like?
It's a lovely day, warm and sunny. We gear up; me with my brand new, weight-integrated, back-buoyancy BC. I discover weight-integrated BCs are HEAVY - it feels like 100 lbs. are on my shoulders. We head down the hill to the rocks. I'm not sure I can handle climbing over rocks AND dealing with the waves, so we head towards the sand a little. I never realized how long that path is! Finally, we hit some smaller rocks and enter. I'm a little nervous with the waves. I've always lived at the beach, always loved the waves, but now, carrying 150 lbs. of stuff, I don't like them so much. But we make it out between the sets. I don't get slammed, smashed or bashed this time.
As we swim away from shore, I discover the back-buoyancy BC is pretty cool. Very comfortable in the water. Finally, we head down. There's not much to see here. Nothing but sand. It's like a desert in a sand storm. But I'm happy, I seem to be staying down OK (I'm still so new, I'm having buoyancy issues). As we swim across the desert, I realize I have totally lost track of where we are and which direction we are heading. Thank goodness my buddy is handy with a compass!
Finally, we start to see some life. There are rocks, and plants, and all kinds of pretty things. We see orange fishies, and blue fishies, and striped fishies, and a long, skinny green fish with a pointy snout. We see long strands of kelp. The late afternoon sunlight is filtered by the silty water and deliniates and contours every leaf and ball. I think with an 800 iso film, I could capture the beautiful light without any strobes. Dang, now I'm going to have to get me an U/W camera! Who would have thought that nasty, smelly stuff the washes up the beach could be so lovely in its' native environment? As we start to get a bit shallower, we see the sea grass. It's waving in the surge like a woman's long hair. The surge is pushing us back and forth like a carnival ride. And finally we ascend near shore.
As we snorkel towards the rocks, we swim through a huge school of small silver fish. Every time I think they're gone, more come along. There must be thousands of them! At last, we hit the rocks. Now for the hard part! As I climb out onto a large rock, the gravity sudddenly hits me! I had forgotten the 200 lbs on my back! There's no way I'll be able to get my legs under me, and negotiate the rocks, and the waves, so I have to climb out on hands and knees. Probably doesn't look great, but what the heck. It gets me out.
As we hit that looong, uphill path, I'm not so sure I can make it to the top. But I don't want my buddy to think I'm too much of a "girl" (at least not right now!) so I take it one step at a time, with a couple of rest stops along the way. I don't think this path will ever end! At last, at last, we are in the parking lot. Finally, I dump the 300 lbs of crap off my back and collapse in the grass.
Moral of the story - Ain't life grand??!!!
Jane