I had an feathery experience while swimming in the ocean...at the beach in front of my house is a rock which, at high tide, I dive from. I swim a set number of strokes out, then swim back in.
So I've done about ten of these out and backs, and am feeling pretty winded. After swimming out again, I float on my back, recovering. An eagle dives down and swoops over me, about a metre above my body...I could see his belly, talons, tail feathers, etc so clearly! But it also spooked me! Thank goodness he didn't think I was a salmon...
Parents
Former Member
I envy those of you who can see the wildlife.
My eyesight is horribly poor. I remember swimming in the bay at La Jolla, Calif, and others who were with me were so excited at the view underneath. I could only soothe my jealousy by reveling in the great invigorating swim itself.
Four years ago I did a mile swim at a boy scout camp in South Dakota. It was a dammed-up mountain stream (so the lake was quite cold) that created a lake. The lake was maintained jointly by the local boy scout council and a fly fishing club. (So it was stocked with some beautiful trout, which I got to see on the end of a fly line, but not while swimming.) I loved the swim and I loved outswimming all the scouts, but I was disappointed not to be able to see anything underneath.
I had asked my eye doctor about prescription goggles, and he can get them with precise lenses for me, but they are ugly bug-eyed things that wouldn't work for real swimming, and they would be oppressively expensive.
But about two years ago I came across some prescription goggles in a catalogue. You can only get stock prescriptions, measured only in "diopters", so it really isn't a close prescription fit for most people. They have no correction for astigmatism either. I bought the strongest ones available. $18.95. Wearing them on land, they seem to correct my vision about 50% or so. But just being able to see 50% better in the water is like a miracle to me! I can actually see the grout between the tiles in the shallow end of the pool. (Not so in the deep end.) I can see BUBBLES! I can see the pace clock! Even from the farthest lane (to some degree, anyway. If I stare a bit, I can see the second hand moving, so I can take off at given intervals now. If I want to take a quick glance at the clock off the turn, I still have to be in a closer lane.)
Now I'm eager to do some open water again, just to see if I can see any fish.
Of course, if it's something dangerous, maybe I was blest not to be able to see it coming! :)
I envy those of you who can see the wildlife.
My eyesight is horribly poor. I remember swimming in the bay at La Jolla, Calif, and others who were with me were so excited at the view underneath. I could only soothe my jealousy by reveling in the great invigorating swim itself.
Four years ago I did a mile swim at a boy scout camp in South Dakota. It was a dammed-up mountain stream (so the lake was quite cold) that created a lake. The lake was maintained jointly by the local boy scout council and a fly fishing club. (So it was stocked with some beautiful trout, which I got to see on the end of a fly line, but not while swimming.) I loved the swim and I loved outswimming all the scouts, but I was disappointed not to be able to see anything underneath.
I had asked my eye doctor about prescription goggles, and he can get them with precise lenses for me, but they are ugly bug-eyed things that wouldn't work for real swimming, and they would be oppressively expensive.
But about two years ago I came across some prescription goggles in a catalogue. You can only get stock prescriptions, measured only in "diopters", so it really isn't a close prescription fit for most people. They have no correction for astigmatism either. I bought the strongest ones available. $18.95. Wearing them on land, they seem to correct my vision about 50% or so. But just being able to see 50% better in the water is like a miracle to me! I can actually see the grout between the tiles in the shallow end of the pool. (Not so in the deep end.) I can see BUBBLES! I can see the pace clock! Even from the farthest lane (to some degree, anyway. If I stare a bit, I can see the second hand moving, so I can take off at given intervals now. If I want to take a quick glance at the clock off the turn, I still have to be in a closer lane.)
Now I'm eager to do some open water again, just to see if I can see any fish.
Of course, if it's something dangerous, maybe I was blest not to be able to see it coming! :)
