An unexpected quick opportunity

[JOhnGw]

When I took my wife to a spa hotel for her birthday recently I took a brief swimsuit with me so that I could have a pre-breakfast swim in the pool, possibly naked if it was quiet, but was disappointed to find that the pool was only a small therapy pool.
Nothing daunted I went for an explore along the cliffs and found a couple of promising coves so, of course, I stripped off in one of them and waded in but bottled out when waist deep from a combination of difficult stony bottom, cold water and rough sea.
The next morning I tried the other cove which turned out to be a bit more sheltered with a better bottom and took this video using my phone to prove it.

[jbeegoode]

Kudos on the tan JOhn.

Are those three people in the upper left hand corner of the tittle page shot? Did you wait for them to leave?
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

Kudos on the tan JOhn.

Are those three people in the upper left hand corner of the tittle page shot? Did you wait for them to leave?
Jbee

By the time I went down to the first cove they had moved on - and in any case the bottom of that cove was not visible from the coastal path.
The picture is the cove in the video and the coastal path was even less frequented in the early morning.

[eyesup]

So, how cold is the water on the west of Wales? The coldest I’ve ever been in was probably around 57-8ºF right below Hoover Dam. The water around Catalina Island off California was about 61ºF when I was there. Both would take your breath.

I believe it is sometimes called divers response. For a guy that seldom swims in that temperature, it would take a couple seconds for me to resume breathing. Taking my time in Catalina I was able to go snorkeling without a problem.

I went onto GoogleEarth and was looking at the west coast of Wales. Some of those bluffs were 100 or more ft. above sea level. You would need a dip in the ocean after climbing up those.

Duane

[JOhnGw]

The sea temperature was 57F or 14C on those days according to the sites I consulted.
In former years I have swum 600 yards before breakfast at Tooting Bec Lido at temperatures down to 10C or 11C (50 to 52F) - naked, of course.
Shortly after I left London the pool management was put into the hands of a private company who promptly banned the  early morning skinny-dipping which had a tradition dating back to the opening of the pool in 1906.

Edited to attach location of cove .kmz file.

[eyesup]

The resolution degrades as you zoom in so it's difficult to tell if there is a path down to the beach.
Is that the cove you were swimming in just to the left of the green?

What's the ruling if you loft your approach into the beach of that cove?
That would be one heck of a shot with a sand wedge.

Duane

[JOhnGw]

On my install of Google Earth at the maximum resolution before ground level view cuts in the pin is exactly where I entered the water. The arial shots were of a dropping spring tide at a slightly higher level than when I swam so there was not the pool immediately under the cliffs and the tide was slightly lower. There are steps from the path from the mainland to the headland greens down to that cove and the cove to the left (south) is where I had my first abortive skinny-dip attempt the previous afternoon.
I should add that the hotel has recently undergone substantial refurbishment and remodelling with the result that what appears on Google Earth to be an outside swimming pool no longer exists.

[nuduke]

Wow, JOhn
You are very brave and maybe a bit foolhardy.  The waves looked strong and who knows what sort of undertow or currents you may have experienced in a narrow cove like that or what hazards lay on the bottom.  Having said that, it's a wonderful moment of naturist freedom - was it worth posting the video?  Yes it jolly well was.


Was it raining at the time?


John 

[jbeegoode]

The resolution degrades as you zoom in so it's difficult to tell if there is a path down to the beach.
Is that the cove you were swimming in just to the left of the green?

What's the ruling if you loft your approach into the beach of that cove?
That would be one heck of a shot with a sand wedge.

Duane

Justification for a Mulligan, if I've ever heard one...or cheating!
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

Undoubtedly a bit foolhardy, but I did have a pretty good idea of the bottom from my previous afternoon's observations and exploration when I bottled out when waist deep in the other cove and I stayed well clear of the rocky sides in spite of appearances on the video.

Edited to add:
On reflection, I think that living for 70 years with this sort of coastline has probably given me the sort of understanding of the risks involved which Jbee has of those involved in desert hiking.

[eyesup]

On reflection, I think that living for 70 years with this sort of coastline has probably given me the sort of understanding of the risks involved which Jbee has of those involved in desert hiking.

There is more there than meets the ear.

Jbee and I know and understand that the stunning beauty in the natural features hides something important. Something that we lose sight and knowledge of when we move away from nature. Living in a culture where you can see images from anywhere in the world at the click of a button hides the risk, and reward, that is a natural part of any landscape. This is true whether you are in a sub-arctic sea, a desert or a rain forest.

Technology sanitizes the danger that exists everywhere. You have to be as wary of the gadgets as you do of nature. Because we have gadgets that help to keep us comfortable doesn’t mean we control nature. It only means we can counteract events to a limited degree.

It is important for those that choose to go out into nature to understand what lives and exists  there to the best of their ability. It will make it more likely that they will survive. The minute we start to believe we are immune, we are in danger.

Jbee and I have commented on people we see that seem to think that walking in the desert is about as complicated as a car commercial. You can walk into a harsh landscape but at any point, turn and climb into your gadget and drive off. Desert, mountain, ocean or forest all appear in their natural beauty because what you see is exactly what you will get. If you fail to understand what you are looking at, you will end up on the nightly news. Hopefully, only as an amusing anecdote.

I have lived here a long time and I still have more to learn. JOhn has learned to understand what he us looking at. JBee has learned that when you spend time in nature and re-learn what we have forgot or discarded, it helps you to survive.

It also makes it possible to see the danger under the surface that makes it possible for us to see that the beauty is just part of the true risk in living that close to nature. The beauty and the danger are opposite sides of the coin. It’s what makes it so exciting and rejuvenating.

Duane

[eyesup]

Well the date on the Google imagery from my install is 9 yrs. out of date. I guess aerial photography is too expensive to update on a regular schedule. Maybe when drone technology becomes more reliable we’ll see more current images.

Duane

[jbeegoode]

On reflection, I think that living for 70 years with this sort of coastline has probably given me the sort of understanding of the risks involved which Jbee has of those involved in desert hiking.

There is more there than meets the ear....

...I have lived here a long time and I still have more to learn. JOhn has learned to understand what he us looking at. JBee has learned that when you spend time in nature and re-learn what we have forgot or discarded, it helps you to survive.

It also makes it possible to see the danger under the surface that makes it possible for us to see that the beauty is just part of the true risk in living that close to nature. The beauty and the danger are opposite sides of the coin. It’s what makes it so exciting and rejuvenating.

Duane

There is the survival thing. There is a humility to it also. The vulnerability, the need to trust in higher stuff. The appreciation of the intricate complex systems of a body in relation to earth, fire and water, and wind, so to speak. There is extra aliveness, in a naked body. There is discovery of knowledge that tells me that my nature has been looking out for me in ways I didn't know all of these years. There is oneness. The uncivilized, the ancients, were not ignorant, we are in many ways. I pleasure in learning and not just intellectual exercises and knowledges. There is a state of being, different than our artificial adaptations, now traps. There is more than can be placed into words.

 And then there is that experience knowledge, like, "Watch out for that tree, George!"
Jbee

[eyesup]

There is the survival thing. There is a humility to it also. The vulnerability, the need to trust in higher stuff. . . . The uncivilized, the ancients, were not ignorant, we are in many ways. I pleasure in learning and not just intellectual exercises and knowledges. . . . There is more than can be placed into words.

 And then there is that experience knowledge, like, "Watch out for that tree, George!"

. . . of the Jungle!

I was speaking to a pastor recently about people who are seeking.
He made a distinction between those who are looking for transformation and those merely looking for knowledge or facts. Some people seek to be intellectual all the time to display knowledge as a way of showing control. Some things you cannot control. As you said you have to learn to trust. For me that is God. For others, their higher power, nature whatever is beyond our reach.

Knowing that there is something you have to trust helps you to learn how to trust.

Duane

[JOhnGw]

Goodness me!

A quick addendum explaining why I felt able to try a quick skinny-dip has prompted a serious and informative discussion on the relationship between man and nature.