A South Swell @ Salt Creek on July 6th, 2014
Storytime.
Some friends of friends came by our summer driveway ‘smore roast the other night; we sat around, talked story, had a beer, my son broke their friend’s son’s nose by accident in a mock kung-fu-battle-with-bike-helmets – you know – regular family stuff. They are kind people (the friends of friends and the friends, too) and as they left I shouted out “We should do a beach day soon” to which they replied – “We’re going to Salt Creek tomorrow; join us!” Um, yeah. I told Mrs. Bee and she said “Ok, but watch the kids – there is a gnarly rip current I just read about” to which I said “Whuh? Where’d you read that? Cite a source, Mrs. Bee!” “Weather dot com” and I was like “That’s not a legitimate source of information (I think I said something closer to ‘Weather dot com? Girrrllll…'”
Sunday arrived, I packed up and headed down to meet our new friends.
When we got there, we parked and checked the conditions; it was whitewash for wayyy out… I talked to my kids and asked them if they knew what that meant. They were a little unsure so I told them it meant turbulent conditions, probably a big rip tide (Mrs. Bee was right!) and wait, kids, wait – there it is – big surf rumbling. The sets started rolling in, and for all intents and purposes, that was the only time we saw a lull in the surf for the next three hours.
The waves pounded relentlessly all day.
We got to the beach and the crowd was thick; it was the last day of the holiday weekend, the Ritz-Carlton is looming above and their guests were in force (nothing wrong with the Ritz, btw – I happened to love that place and the bar there – best place to sip a margarita and watch the surf). The crowd was lined up atop a four foot+ high sand shelf watching the surf churn outside.
We decamped, set up shop with our friends and had an epic day. Here are a couple of snaps from the afternoon. Enjoy.
Going back for more. Check the wave outside. I’m standing on the sand when I took this photo (duh), but what I mean is that the inside break is really close to shore; that outside wave is midway out and when you got past that, the real waves were setting up and not letting up…
Aloha!
#dana point #salt creek #south swell #the strand
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