Swimming in July

The feeling when you jump from a high place and fall through warm air and then hit the water. The way the bubbles explode white around you as you shoot into the dark. The light tickling as the bubbles rush across your skin.

Just the pure physical joy of thrashing your arms around in water. To fill the kid’s buckets and throw it at the sun—the way th... See more

So, as I was saying, I was swimming by the cliffs. Every day, walking up and down the coast I found new places to dive in. I got interested in high diving—something I had been too much of a coward to do as a kid. I felt a childish excitement for water. The kids on the beach would look at me, whisper, and laugh. That is one of the pleasures of youth... See more

During an evening swim through big, slow swells, I floated on my back and peered across at San Francisco; the sun was sink­ing directly behind the city. All I could see was the water — dark, nearly black, the way it gets at that time of day — and the scal­loped top of the city’s sil­hou­ette, like a float­ing citadel. Atlantean, in that light. I ha

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