It doesn't feel like Fall yet here and not just because we are still getting highs in the mid 90s during the day. Well, that is part of it I guess, but I can't complain being that this last Saturday was perfect Barton Creek swimming weather. I spent nearly an hour stretching out my strokes back and forth in its balmy 67 degree, 1/8 mile long splendor.
I'll admit though that putting on my goggles and staring straight down to what was below my feet gave me a bit of a start. Okay, so I even choked on some spring water. Truly, it was not much different from what a serene snorkeling experience would be like among reefs in azure water I guess. But instead of blue the water it was slightly green and in place of intricate corals there were swaying leaves of plants that seem to reach up to me. When the sudden beds of algae appeared after several strokes of green nothingness and then fish would unexpectantly wiggle below my torso I began to feel a bit threatened. There was so much coming and going, rising and falling below me when I swam. It was just not at all like the blue stripe I normally follow while moving back and forth afloat a chlorinated, cement bottom swimming pool. I'll admit, I got really panicked down there.
I had to take a break after about half an hour and lift my face from the water. While I was drinking from my water bottle on the side of the pool I heard some local swimmers talking about their swim they just finished together. They seemed to know a lot about the pool and so I started asking them some questions about etiquette: what side to swim on to help traffic flow, whether one can swim during the winter there, and well...how are do you feel about the... uh... wildlife below?
In addition to telling me that this is the greatest place in the world to swim and that just like with most things in the city "there are no real rules" about how and what direction you swim in the pool, they also started telling me about encounters they had had with fresh water eels at times in the creek. Apparently, one of the swimmers had swam above one as long as her 5 foot frame. I tried not to respond too much before hearing what she had to say about it. "Yeah, it was one of the neatest things I have ever seen. It wasn't too excited about me one way or the other. It was just poking its head around in the silt and didn't seem too interested in my activities."
It took a minute to calm my initial horror at the thought of swimming in stride with an eel as long as me but then I got to feeling kind of like she did about it. It was pretty cool to be swimming with all these green creatures. I was sure I still needed some adjusting time and so I took another dive into the creek to test out my new approach. With a bit of effort the creepy turned to curious and then to absolute fascination and serenity. I mean swimming among band-aides swaying like algae and flailing babies in water wings all the sudden seems much more threatening.
