It was 6:30am in the morning. A group of us were floating in the water waiting for the start of a swim. A couple of guys coming back from an earlier session stopped to report on the sea conditions waiting for us down the beach. The one swimmer lifted up his arm and showed us where he’d been stung by a blue bottle. Ugh! He told us there were clumps of them in the bay up ahead and that we should swim wide to avoid them. There was a bit of mumbling and discussion until someone shouted: “let’s go”. I had other ideas. I’d been stung a couple of weeks ago and was in no mood for a repeat performance. I could still see the sting pockmarks on my left arm. Everyone kicked off and I had a moment to decide. People brushed passed me and then I turned around and started swimming around the point and back to the beach. It was strange and magical to be alone in the water that early in the morning. The sun was rising behind me and the bottom of the ocean looked like the inside of a church when the sun shines through the stained glass windows. I picked up a movement down to my right and saw baby dusky shark slowly moving through the water. It was a perfect moment, the light was streaming through the water and it was just me out there. What a gift to be out there alone and encounter something so beautiful in its natural habitat. The moment passed and I made a beeline for the beach.

Photo by Alexander Nachev on Unsplash