Serendipity

Morning Chia!

How have you been?

I've taken a slower, relaxed and more 'me time' approach for the last few weeks. However, despite being not as hussle, bussle, busy bee, always fleeting to another engagement, I've been having an exciting time by myself!

Last Saturday, I started off with my usual Saturday morning run, which turned into a walk as my feet were killing me from mixed netball on Friday night.

However, my sore feet allowed me to slow down and appreciate my run trail. On my return route I passed this guy.

Instagram photo of a Lizard

He looked like he had been injured and so he had a bloody eye. I've been having some exciting runs the last few weeks where I've crossed paths with snakes. There was this one time when I was half asleep and from the corner of my eye, I saw this huge brown thing on the side of the path in a shape of an 'S'. It scared me. I jumped to the other side of the pathway and didn't stop. As I continued running, I saw this woman with her retriever puppy just a few metres ahead of me and asked her if she saw that ...

'Snake!? Yes! It was the biggest one I've ever seen!'

Anywho, on my route back I decided to walk on the shoreline and do some runs on the soft sand. After a few laps I realised that since I had a free day, I would take my time to appreciate the crispy air, the cool salty waves playfully weaving in between my sore and hot toes.

The annoying thing was that I still had this sense of urgency. I couldn't completely let go of 'time'. So I just explore and found this guy:

Instagram photo of an angry crab

I also found some interesting sea treasures:

Instagram photo of shells

White coral and a purple shell among the washed up seaweed

I then found a rock to try to relax, however I heard some voices in the distance. Two men holding wet bags with snorkels poking out, approached me. I stood up to be greeted by a warm 'hello' from one of them. He introduced himself as 'N'.

I asked them about the water conditions, visibility and whether it was a safe area to snorkel, as though I've run around this area hundreds of times and have lived less than 5 minutes away for almost 20 years, I've never snorkeled there. N said it was safe to snorkel! We chatted for a little longer. N said that he worked for the Department of Water, and after telling him I was a lawyer, he mentioned that they had a legal team there too. Eventually N joined his friend who had already started snorkelling (despite the choppy water!)

I watched them for a while, and was inspired. They could do it! I should do it too! I decided to head back home as it was getting cold. As I climbed up the stairs I hear this high pitched whistle. I look to the ocean and see N's snorkel propped on his forehead, bobbing in the white wash and waving at me. He motioned for me to come to him. I was confused and curious, so I turned around and descended the stairs.

He came out of the water holding something in his hands. 'Now, we are going to have to throw this back, but I thought I'd find one to show you. Put out your hand...'

I was still confused, but this guy was so nice and informative, so I put my hand out. He placed a shell on it.

'This is an abalone. It doesn't look like much, but it will soon hold onto your hand and two eyes will pop out. It's like a snail.'

I was like 'really?!?!?'

As we chatted about the ocean and stuff the abalone slowly started to move. His shell started to rise and as the man promised, two eyes popped out.

Abalone coming out to say 'Hi'

Can you see it's eyes?

He's holding on!

It was the coolest thing I've seen! N was so lovely and warm. It really came at the right time for me. It was so serendipitous that I had sore feet, that I decided to go down to the beach instead of continuing home as usual, that I stayed at the shore long enough to meet N and his friend. It was just so perfect. When we threw the little guy back into the water, he said 'Anna, it really seems like you're in the wrong career.' Haha!

Anywho, this morning I got up and went on the usual Saturday run. I was feeling a little lethargic as I had given blood earlier this week. Looking out onto the ocean and remembering my encounter with N last week, I decided to keep the run short, go back home to collect my snorkel gear and give it a go.

There was a SE wind which wasn't too strong, yet the water was still pretty choppy. Well, choppy for someone who hasn't snorkeled in that area, and who is snorkelling alone. The water was cool, but not icy. I decided that I may as well just do it. There's no one around, it's a sunny day, and hey, start off in my comfort zone, close to shore, and then work my way out.

Still choppy 

It wasn't the greatest visibility. And for some reason, when I look out my snorkeling mask to see lots of brown seaweed around me, it makes me a little scared. However, I pushed through that fear and continued to fight the waves to swim through the reef and seaweed. I ended up seeing some fish who were also fighting the current and attempting to find shelter in among the reef. I felt scared, excited and a bit like an adventurer going out into the unknown. I took some photos, however, none of them turned out great as the water was quite murky. Here's the best shot I got:

Fish!

Nevertheless, I am even more inspired to go snorkeling at my beach again!