After an exhausting night of limited and interrupted sleep, I found solace in work. By the end of the very hot day, at about 6:30pm, Jeanie and I walked down to Graaff’s Pool, a natural rock formation where bathers could swim protected from the ocean water, but in a limited area.
The water was calm and smooth. The sun was slowly dropping towards the horizon. After talking to a bather, I decided to swim out beyond the kelp and swim north towards Cape Town and to the next bay called Rocklands, about three quarters of a mile away. It was a solo swim for me and in an area most people don’t typically swim. I swam through kelp. Some of which was quick thick. I swam parallel to the sea wall and the adjacent promenade, that I have used to run along as a teenager.
There were a few kayakers paddling further out, which gave me confidence that I was not totally on my own in the ocean. After a couple of stops to gauge my direction and to look out for any rocks or obstacles, I soon found myself outside the mouth of the bay called Rocklands. The water temperature varied quite a lot, but I was comfortable in it. I swam a bit faster to get through the colder patches. I decided to continue swimming to the next bay called Three Anchor Bay. I could see Jeanie waving at me when I stopped to look around.
As I swam into Three Anchor Bay, I thought about Theodore Yach. I thought about how he must have swum this way into the beach many times on his many Robben Island swims, many of which ended at Three Anchor Bay.
Jeanie was waiting for me with a towel at the beach. I was refreshed and recounted my swim to Jeanie as we walked back along the promenade returning towards Graaff’s Pool. It was a wonderful experience and very memorable. The sun was setting.
