Dolphin Address 2 2003
12 juni 2003
The weather, as always, is ever-changing. I have unlearned to rejoice at dawn at a sunny day. You nearly burn out of the van when suddenly a distant gust is rustling nearer. A hesitant trickle on the roof, followed by a thick blanket of very fine rain, a kind of inverted sparkling water.
Within a minute you are totally saturated by water. And it takes three days for the inside of the car to dry.
At Pollenawatch a rock is inclining enough forward to provide shelter for my coat-wrapped clothes. But there is no shelter for me. There is under the overhang of the Sperm whale rock. But only at low tide or the sea will throw you. There's nearly always a wind blowing and this falls into two categories. White water or no white water. The height of the waves is rather decisive for the danger of getting in or out of the water. The other factor is the state of the tide. At low tide there is a tiny beach that gives easy access. At high tide you can jump from the poolrock into two meter deep water. To get out again you hold on to the edge, wait for a sturdy wave and be neatly delivered on top.
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It is the four meter tidal drop that holds the problem. Before the beach there is a minefield of dead slippery trip boulders. It's a bad stroll with breakers coming into your crotch. Also, standing with your back against the poolrock and the waves are stampeding towards you it takes resilience, especially when you are also holding a monofin and a waterwing. Nevertheless the water there only sweeps upwards as it has nowhere else to go. It has though at the Bathtub, so there you will be flung into and flushed out. And if you are not careful you'll be thrown over and over.
Today, however, I had the privilege to tame the Tub. Dusty was a bit too interested in my monofin when I wanted to leave the water. Normally I take it off in the water and throw it on top of the poolrock. But the water was savage and and there are stories about of Dusty pinching boogy-boards, underwater cameras and unattended flippers. There is even word of Dusty's Treasure Cove. So I jumped a wave and rode it straight into the Tub, until the very shallow end. Dusty stayed before the threshold and I think she was eating her heart out. Because I braved her.
Jan Ploeg, Doolin, June 12th 2003
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