Reef, wreck and pier
According to the forecasts there was still 24 hours to enjoy the comfortably warm weather before there would be a run of brutally hot days. Wading into the sea confirmed that tomorrow would be when the summer began. Toes, heels, calf, knee; so far so good. Thigh. Stand on tiptoes. Take a deep breath and sit down. The water temperature comes as a shock, it’s not winter cold, but it’s still cool enough to surprise. The worse bit is that first wave of water that leaks through my short wetsuit and trickles down my back. An involuntary flick of my spine accompanies this intrusion; if I were a shark, my tail would have flipped left to right. I pull on blue fins, which match my toes, adjust mask and snorkel and lie down. My spine does that ancestral flick again. I roll back the passage of evolutionary time and fully re-enter the water. It does not feel like a kind of homecoming. Full immersion cause...