With the arrival of the March Break students I have had to investigate my preferred resorts with greater diligence. Many of the young people, understandably anxious to acquaint themselves with the benefits of Key Largo’s endless sunshine, have taken up their position by the pool from an early morning start. Their preparedness defeated me in my objectives this morning because we first went grocery shopping. In any event I am pleased to relinquish my dog-like habits to those who haven’t the privilege to linger here as long as I. Furthermore I remind myself that the occasional deprivation of radiancy may in fact be a good idea.
My initial foil at the nearest swimming pool was not however repeated at the central pool where there were only two others already in situ. Accordingly I took up residence upon the chaise longue nearest a table under an umbrella. Immediately I became aware of the sizzling nature of the sunshine. Perhaps it was because there was no wind to speak of. I had taken the precaution of putting some sunscreen on my face but it didn’t absolve the heat. I soon interrupted my lounging by going into the pool for a swim. I tried to elevate the mission to an athletic pursuit by swimming the American crawl from one end to the other. While I believe I exhibited moderate competency (having learned the stroke from the age of 9 or 10) there was patently nothing energetic about my performance.
Not long afterwards I decided the better solution to the interminable heat was a swim in the sea. When I arrived at the beach on my tricycle I quickly saw that many others had already had the same idea. There were more people at the beach today than I have seen since our arrival last November. Once again many of them were young people. Yet I knew in an instant that my greater preoccupation than swimming was about to be photographic.
Nonetheless the first venture was into the sea. Nor was I disappointed. The unique feature of the sea today was that there was a southwesterly wind which was causing a noticeable rush of waves across Florida Bay to Buttonwood Bay. Adopting my customary platform of upward buoyancy I then devoted myself to interpreting the waves over my head before the water went into my mouth or up my nose. It was a fruitless enterprise! The salty water invariably championed! Strangely the water wasn’t at all murky in spite of the rollicking waves on the surface.