St. Phatty
Active member
I was talking with another member about this (Thanks B360 !) and thought it might make an interesting thread.
Anyway, in November 2002, Thanksgiving fell on the 22nd. I lived in San Diego. I was into surfing big waves at the time. The swell on the 22nd got up to 11 feet at 20 seconds. Easily 20 foot faces.
I went out at Torrey Pines and spent an hour extracting myself from a Rip Current. I actually enjoyed that. I drove up to Del Mar and went out there. The waves were smaller but way more lined up. By the time I got outside, I was about 1/2 mile South. It took me another hour to swim back North.
Then came Thanksgiving dinner.
But actually, what was really interesting that week was what happened before and after Thanksgiving.
On Tuesday, I went swimming in La Jolla. Free-diving. That was the plan.
As usual, the preparation extended to the day before. Got to plan everything, including bowel movements.
Fortunately, you don't have to plan peeing.
So there I am, swimming from La Jolla Shores to La Jolla Cove. Slightly ripped on some cookies with a nice Sativa in them.
Having spent the last 1/2 day planning & preparing for the dive, and having never ever backed out of a dive. You just don't. Normally.
What was not normal about Tuesday the 20th was that I was swimming through the seaweed-filled muck and got this feeling of being ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TERRIFIED. Like when you were a kid watching a really good sci-fi movie, amplified x20. The kind of adrenaline rush you would expect if you saw a big-rig coming at you at 60 miles per hour, or had 5 bears attack you at Glacier National Park.
Never saw nothing.
I got tired of the mental conversation that resulted from the extreme feeling of fear. "Don't back out", "I'm fvcking scared shitless, get me out of here", "that's ridiculous", and on and on. 10 minutes of that kind of debate in my mind.
I turned around as much to end that stupid (?) conversation as anything.
I stayed close to shore, turned around, just swam South.
"Coincidental laziness", I figured.
About a year later, I saw an article about a lobster fisherman. He was at La Jolla Cove on the 21st (approximately). He saw a very large great white eating a large seal. He got so scared he left early. A 1/4 mile offshore.
My exact destination on the 22nd.
The metallic taste of blood in the water ? My guardian angel ?
Or just a major bout of coincidental extreme laziness.
Actually, I met someone else who aborted a surf - at Torrey Pines - on Friday November 23rd. The surf was really flat on November 20th, the date of my strange experience whilst diving.
He described having a similar experience while boogie-boarding at Torrey Pines on the 23rd. Having never aborted a surf, he felt really scared, inexplicably, and got out of the water.
Torrey Pines is about 4 miles north of La Jolla Cove, about 3 miles North of La Jolla shores.
The inevitable did not occur until April, 2008. That month, a man swimming about 150 yards outside Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach received that terrible 'test bite' that Great Whites deliver. He was about 65, an older triathlete out training with some buddies. Bled out in 15 minutes, was dead in 20.
Fletcher Cove is about 10 miles North of Torrey Pines.
We are told by the oceanographers that Great Whites go to give birth in the canyon off of La Jolla, which goes 1 mile deep ... bad place to drop your keys
I always wondered why San Diego had such a perfect record, shark attack per million swimmer hours wise. Wouldn't those mother Great Whites be hungry after swimming 500 or 800 miles from NorCal or Oregon and giving birth ? Guess I got my answer !
Something warned me. The Universe did not want me to dive that day.
My best guess is, either, Guardian Angel OR the activation of like a 6th sense, the ability to detect predators planning to eat us.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Anyway, I'm curious what other experiences folks have had, outside of the normal 5 senses.
Premonitions, or Ghosts ... psychic things.
Anyway, in November 2002, Thanksgiving fell on the 22nd. I lived in San Diego. I was into surfing big waves at the time. The swell on the 22nd got up to 11 feet at 20 seconds. Easily 20 foot faces.
I went out at Torrey Pines and spent an hour extracting myself from a Rip Current. I actually enjoyed that. I drove up to Del Mar and went out there. The waves were smaller but way more lined up. By the time I got outside, I was about 1/2 mile South. It took me another hour to swim back North.
Then came Thanksgiving dinner.
But actually, what was really interesting that week was what happened before and after Thanksgiving.
On Tuesday, I went swimming in La Jolla. Free-diving. That was the plan.
As usual, the preparation extended to the day before. Got to plan everything, including bowel movements.
Fortunately, you don't have to plan peeing.
So there I am, swimming from La Jolla Shores to La Jolla Cove. Slightly ripped on some cookies with a nice Sativa in them.
Having spent the last 1/2 day planning & preparing for the dive, and having never ever backed out of a dive. You just don't. Normally.
What was not normal about Tuesday the 20th was that I was swimming through the seaweed-filled muck and got this feeling of being ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TERRIFIED. Like when you were a kid watching a really good sci-fi movie, amplified x20. The kind of adrenaline rush you would expect if you saw a big-rig coming at you at 60 miles per hour, or had 5 bears attack you at Glacier National Park.
Never saw nothing.
I got tired of the mental conversation that resulted from the extreme feeling of fear. "Don't back out", "I'm fvcking scared shitless, get me out of here", "that's ridiculous", and on and on. 10 minutes of that kind of debate in my mind.
I turned around as much to end that stupid (?) conversation as anything.
I stayed close to shore, turned around, just swam South.
"Coincidental laziness", I figured.
About a year later, I saw an article about a lobster fisherman. He was at La Jolla Cove on the 21st (approximately). He saw a very large great white eating a large seal. He got so scared he left early. A 1/4 mile offshore.
My exact destination on the 22nd.
The metallic taste of blood in the water ? My guardian angel ?
Or just a major bout of coincidental extreme laziness.
Actually, I met someone else who aborted a surf - at Torrey Pines - on Friday November 23rd. The surf was really flat on November 20th, the date of my strange experience whilst diving.
He described having a similar experience while boogie-boarding at Torrey Pines on the 23rd. Having never aborted a surf, he felt really scared, inexplicably, and got out of the water.
Torrey Pines is about 4 miles north of La Jolla Cove, about 3 miles North of La Jolla shores.
The inevitable did not occur until April, 2008. That month, a man swimming about 150 yards outside Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach received that terrible 'test bite' that Great Whites deliver. He was about 65, an older triathlete out training with some buddies. Bled out in 15 minutes, was dead in 20.
Fletcher Cove is about 10 miles North of Torrey Pines.
We are told by the oceanographers that Great Whites go to give birth in the canyon off of La Jolla, which goes 1 mile deep ... bad place to drop your keys
I always wondered why San Diego had such a perfect record, shark attack per million swimmer hours wise. Wouldn't those mother Great Whites be hungry after swimming 500 or 800 miles from NorCal or Oregon and giving birth ? Guess I got my answer !
Something warned me. The Universe did not want me to dive that day.
My best guess is, either, Guardian Angel OR the activation of like a 6th sense, the ability to detect predators planning to eat us.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Anyway, I'm curious what other experiences folks have had, outside of the normal 5 senses.
Premonitions, or Ghosts ... psychic things.
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