by Joaquin Antique
I tried to get up in time for the 6:05 AM sunrise and beach reopening but overslept. By the time I walked down to Dog Beach, the sun had been up for an hour though you couldn’t see any sunlight as Coastal Eddy was in town.
Ran into some guys schlepping their boards down Voltaire and spoke to them briefly. They were jonesing to get out in the water after a month of no surfing and smiling ear to ear.
“How was it?” they asked a dude who had just come out of the water. “Wet”, he replied in a jaded tone of voice. I guess some people are just glass-half-empty at seven in the morning. Still, he was the only person on the beach that I saw today that didn’t have a smile on his face.
Between the jetty and the pier I counted about 70-80 people in the water and more were arriving by the minute. The parking lots remain closed and most of the people seemed to be locals walking down. I did see a few people parking on the street as close as they could get to the beach.
There were as many people walking along the shore as in the water and about two dozen dogs were romping around Dog Beach. Their owners were doing a good job of maintaining physical distancing, the dogs not so much.
I’ll be heading back later in the day to check out how crazy it gets. Meantime, here are a few pictures from my morning stroll.
Making the long awaited pilgrimage to Mother Ocean.
Sorry for the shitty surf pictures, folks. Where’s Ace, Jim Grant, and Chris Mannarino when you need them? I’m sure their quality pix will surface soon.
Dogs and companions are having great fun this morning.
A couple folks were surf fishing. Pier remains closed to all.
No lifeguard or police presence was noted on the beach, except for this guy who is taking serious precautions.
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Thanks so much, Joaquin! Not everyone would get up that early and head down to the beach to report on what was happening. Looking forward to your follow-up.