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| Is this the face of a happy man? My partner John tests out the water on a rainy August day in Saltspring. |
We like to boast that Vesuvius beach, just a block down the hill from
our house in Saltspring, is the warmest beach on the island. And yes, at the
height of summer, on a hot, hot day in the right conditions, the ocean water
there can sometimes feel actually . . . warmish. Mostly, though, the local
beach aficionados admit to “refreshing,” while the less boosterish use words
like “freezing.”
My partner John, an enthusiastic supporter of the Vesuvius
Beach Indolent Society (he had T-shirts made up for the whole easeful crowd),
is among the most boosterish. He favours descriptions like “tropical,” and “lukewarm;”
reluctantly descends to “refreshing,” and positively scoffs at “freezing.”
But the truth, I think, is in the eyes. At the moment
of his characteristic submersion, which amounts to falling backward into the
water at a chest-deep level, even he can’t hide the automatic shock. It’s
momentary, and he can deny it, but when he had me photograph him swimming in
the rain during our recent stay on Saltspring, the proof was there. His lips
said one thing; his eyes said “freezing.”
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| John's characteristic swimming strategy (usually minus the umbrella) is to wade out until he's waist or chest deep.... |
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| .... take a deep breath, and fling himself backwards. |
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| Relieved that he's survived, he heads out. |
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| That victory smile.... |
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| And, up the street to the house for a a hot shower, after proving definitively that Vesuvius beach is swimmable under many conditions. |
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