Over the barded wire

A swimming towel lay next to me on my way to Pringle Bay today. As I drove, every now and then, I’d see the towel and hope that I had thrown a cozy into the boot. This hope escalated when I drove over the bridge just before the Crystal Pools hike. The water. Oh the water! It looked spectacular. I started brainstorming about what I could swim in if my costume wasn’t in the boot.

Fortunately, when I arrived at Pringle Bay and opened the boot to get my ceremony book and registry, there was the cozy.

On the way back, I almost didn’t stop at the river mouth. I drove over the bridge, saw the water again, and decided to turn back. At first I thought I’d get away with just walking quite fast past the guard/capenature hut but a woman stopped me. Apparently I needed a permit (I kind of knew this).

“But I just want to swim down there,” I explained, pointing just over the rise.

“You need a permit.”

“So what must I do if I need to swim down there?”

She told me about a path on the other side of the road. I found it and then climbed down some rocks to where the darker blue of the sea found the shallower river bed. At that stage I was more in the blue than in the turquoise so I climbed a bit further, over some barbed wire towards the bridge.

After a quick change, I climbed into the water. It was perfect. I had fluked high tide and the turquoise water, warm but not too warm.  Honestly, it was one of the best swims of my life.

For the rest of the day I felt like someone had shared really incredible news with me – a lightness in my chest. Joy.

To think, I nearly didn’t stop.