Well, not exactly. The skateboarders (see below) told me they’d been going mat-surfing by moonlight (like the Hook in Santa Cruz w. no one else out). They were going out last night, so I and suited up and got into the water at 8, about 15 minutes after sunset. The guys were out, two mats and a board. You could see OK for maybe 45 minutes, until you couldn’t make out the horizon. Moon not up yet. Small waves, kind of sloppy rides, but it was kind of exquisite and unique, being in the ocean as light faded, paddling the quarter-mile back to the take-out point guided by the beach house lights. In all these years, I never thought of going out at sunset.
It made me think of swimming one night in the cove at aquatic Park in San Francisco. In the ’90s, I belonged to the the South End Rowing Club and would swim in the cove about once a week. I decided to try swimming one night. As soon as I got into the water, I felt this exhilaration, maybe it was a feeling of independence. This was unique. No one knew I was there; I was on my own and I was comfortable. The lights of Ghirardelli Square sparkled on the water. I could see the Buena Vista Café, all lit up. Yesss!
Got back to the club, took a sauna, and was I wired! Natural high.
I was hitchiking back in the early 70's and got left off in Point Reyes. Found my way to a beach. It was a late afternoon, the sea was luminous blue and green with great waves – not a person in sight for as far as the eye could see. i took off all my clothes and jumped into the crashing waves. Never did anything like that before or since….A feeling like Ransom landing in the ocean of Venus in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra
thanks for sharing.