It’s hot. Hotter than at my home in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and we are at the beach. It topped 104 degrees in Santa Barbara yesterday. The only cool place to be is in the ocean.
Taking the advice of fellow blogger of Living in the Gap, Cheryl Oreglia, I bought a boogie board. She didn’t say “buy a boogie board.” She asked if we’d done anything spontaneous lately. If you don’t follow her or read her blog, you’re missing out. She has her first book under contract that will be released in 2023. You can find out more from her latest posts.
I haven’t been in the ocean for several years. First it was my knee surgery from a ski accident. That was 2018 and I was sporting the heavy ACL brace you see on NFL players. Not a good thing for the ocean. Then I worried about waves and babied my knee the next year. The following year there were the Great White Sharks.
I watched my son’s girlfriend surf for hours every day while they visited. She inspired me. I remembered the days when I’d ask the lifeguards to watch my kids while I swam out to a buoy or did a bit of boogie boarding. Then I boogie boarded with my kids as they got older.
The other day, I was hot and I wandered into the ocean knee deep to cool off. It dawned on me — my knee is okay. Also, I had cataract surgery. I don’t have to worry about losing my hard contact lenses that I wore from seventh grade to age 59! Woohoo! One drop of water on my eyes and I’d lose my contacts. It really restricted my ocean adventuring.
I decided to rent a boogie board where my son’s girlfriend rented her surfboard — at the surf shop a quarter mile down the beach from where we hang out. $15 for one to three hours. But I was at the grocery store when I saw a boogie board on sale for $15 because it’s the last weekend of summer. Tough choice.
So I did it. I got back into the ocean after four or five years and I feel like a kid again. The perfect end to our beach vacation. Even with the heat wave. Or especially BECAUSE of the heat wave.
Are you having a heat wave? How do you survive the heat?
Have you done anything spontaneous lately? What was it?
How cool!.Yay on getting back in, especially with it being so HOT! Enjoy! I am ready for Fall and cooler temps!
Thanks! It feels amazing.
We were in Sarasota yesterday and were enjoying watching someone on some kind of a boogie board in the middle of the Gulf. Beautiful weather. We mostly survive the heat indoors in Florida.
In Arizona and Palm Springs we stayed indoors. The house we’re in heats up hotter than outside!
The board that Cupcake was referring to looked like a little surfboard, but when powered up rose over the water so that the rider was supported by just the bottom fin. It rose about 2 feet out of the water. Never seen one before.
It’s a hydrofoil. The guy who lives in the cottage year round above the VRBO we’re in has one. I’ve also seen a surf movie with Laird Hamilton, big wave surfer, surf huge waves on one.
So they figured a way to beat physics. Impressive.
Yesterday we saw a guy zipping along the coast on a hydrofoil. I’ve only seen them used on waves like a surfboard before. I have no idea how they go across the flat water at a high speed!
Right…that is what I saw. I was mesmerized on how they were able to break like 19 laws of physics to glide like they did! Maybe it was Marty and he came back from the future?
Ha!
The beaches were very crowded yesterday for Labor Day. We got off the beaten track and did a few fun things indoors while on a day trip to Sarasota.
The beaches here are normally empty and there’s parking. We went at 9 a.m. to get a parking spot and left by the time the beach got crowded.
That is about the time we would leave also to get a spot and make it a day trip.
It’s humid here today, but not a heat wave. Spontaneous? No. My days have been planned out. Maybe I should schedule spontaneity….
That’s funny! Maybe something will catch your eye and you’ll think, I’ll give it a try…
😉
Good for you! That looks like a ton of fun!
It is! What a great way to stay cool.
It wasn’t spontaneous, but I did sign up for summer sailing lessons–something I was uncomfortable doing.
That’s wonderful! I took sailing lessons with my brother when we were in college. It was a little scary and painful. My head got hit several times with the boom!
My life lacks spontaneity but I am a planner by nature so there’s that. I have spontaneous moments but small ones, that I admit do come with some thought as well!
My husband and I used to be spontaneous before kids. We’d throw a tent and sleeping bags into the car and go camping on a whim. That would take a week of planning today!
The Great Whites are still there, they have just gotten sneakier.
Don’t tell me that! The beach was posted with signs about the great whites. The coast guard helicopters were watching them. There were three big ones that year.
Yep, hot here too. Looks like fun. Congrats for doing something spontaneous!
We spent most of today at the beach to escape the heat. I caught a couple good waves!
OMG, we’re driving home from the lake (110 degrees) and while I’m catching up on my favorite blogs I’m noticing unusual blog traffic this week! Thank you for the kind mention and the link! I love that you decided to enjoy the ocean, the joy on your face says it all! You look fabulous! My son is home from Portugal for a month and as you would expect, I’m soaking up every ounce of his time! Hugs, C
I hope my link drove you some traffic! We are trying to get the most out of our last beach days before we return to the reality of desert life. Have a wonderful time with your son!
Such a fun refreshing post!
Thank you!
Your Boogie Board is GREAT! I love to ride the waves that way. Wow – you had cataract surgery? I have the same issues, in hard contacts for over 30 years. I might have to have cataract surgery, but worry about doing it. Can you see better? It would be nice to swim and not worry about a lens flying out. GOOD FOR YOU!
First, I love boogie boarding and forgot how much until this vacation! As for cataract surgery, my vision went from 20/1600 prior to cataracts to 20/2300 with them. Post surgery 20/20. Life changing! With cataracts I would see pyramids of three stop signs, three moons, etc. I had to get new contacts or glasses every three to six months at the end. Hard contacts change the shape of your eyes. My doctor made me go without contacts for at least six weeks before he did the surgery so he could get a good reading on my Rx lenses. He did one eye at a time. During the weeks without contacts, I’d go in once a week and get my vision checked. It kept changing. He wouldn’t do surgery until it stabilized. Hope that isn’t too much information?
That’s great information. I’ve noticed at 59 my eyes are changing too. So appreciate learning more about cataracts, etc. THANKS! And glad you can boogie board without contacts.
If you need cataract surgery, don’t put it off! Yes, bring in the ocean without contacts is freeing 😃
How did you choose a good Dr. That’s my big fear. Also, my mother said there is an option to have a more expensive lens, she wish she had done that. At the time, she didn’t know if it would make a difference, but later wished she had done that.
I got a referral from my retinal specialist for the best Dr. I don’t know what I would have done without that. Also, because of my extreme myopia, the Dr. said the special lenses would make my vision not as sharp as the basic ones. It all depends on the individual.
Thanks, I kind of thought that was the case.
This is amazing! Looks like fun!