Playitas - El Mosquito

Last Saturday, Evaristo and I and a good friend of mine from school participated in a swim hosted by a local conservation group called ProPlayitas. This particular group was formed to help promote the conscientious and recreational use of Ensenada's beaches while at the same time working to protect them from development and anthropogenic damage.

Playitas has always been a special place for me. It's where I first got to know Evaristo and where I have passed countless hours in the summer swimming and snorkeling. There have always been rumblings in the background about possible development projects that would essentially convert Playitas into a marina, but thankfully, these projects have never been realized. I know that the loss of Playitas would not only be a huge blow to myself but to countless other Ensenadenses who use Playitas a natural swimming pool. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that Playitas is the only "pool" in Ensenada that is 100% accessible to anyone who would like to use it.

On the day of the swim, Evaristo and I got up early and headed to our home away from home. We shared some coffee in the car and mentally prepared ourselves for how cold the water would be. As we had just finished sampling the week before, we had a good idea of what to expect. Cold, cold water and lots of it. We were not disappointed.

Playitas was packed with swimmers. It was actually pretty cool to see so many people getting ready to swim, trembling in the their swim caps, anxiously waiting for the go ahead to start. There was a lot of screaming as people waded into the frigid water, myself included, but as soon as the whistle blew everyone took off without even noticing the temperature, which was a balmy 10 degrees Celsius. I got separated from my group and ended up swimming near a large woman wearing a red wetsuit, who I would later find out was actually a large man, much to my surprise. In any case, Big Red and I took off at a good pace and fell into a nice rhythm. I finished in about 50 minutes and enjoyed the adrenaline rush for the rest of the day.

I finally understood what runners mean when they say they could run forever or that running clears their minds or that running is relaxing because I felt all those things when I swam. The 2.5 km swim was the longest swim that I have ever done in the ocean and I have to say that I am hooked. I can't wait for the next opportunity to strike out over large distances across the sea. I would like to start training as well so that the next time an event like this comes up I won't be too out of shape to participate.

For example, it's possible that next year there might be a swim from the Islands of Todos Santos to El Mosquito. I wish I could sign up right now. How cool would that be?