Saturday, July 28: At Evanston small (1 foot) wind waves remind me that while ocean swimmers may pooh-pooh our lake, it is the wind waves, not large swells, that make swimming difficult. And we have plenty of those. This day wasn't too bad with a South East breeze but we avoided the far (South facing) wall which seemed fairly turbulent. Even though we don't believe in the under-TOE of local lore we preferred not meeting up with him this day. But we did swim all the way to the near (North facing) wall which was completely calm.

Sunday, July 29: Today we decided to try Promentory point on the South Side of Chicago (Approximately 55th St). My real motivation was to have Mike help me retrieve my car from my son who had borrowed it. I was somewhat apprehensive as it was a foggy morning, and as you swim, more or less, straight out its not a good place to swim in the fog. But by the time we got there the fog had lifted enough so that we could see the whole area. It was a pleasant change of pace with calm warmish (72) water. At 8 AM we had the place mostly to ourselves but there were a couple of other swimmers.

Tuesday, July 31: Back in Evanston for an early morning swim we had flat but two-layer water. The top foot was a warm 74 but a foot under the surface it felt like the 60's. It was a very hot day, and that often brings in the cold water. The algae is quite noticeable lately, both here and on the South Side, and the Zebra mussels seem conspicuously absent.

Thursday, August 2 Big Storm: Today I checked on the weather channel at 5:00AM, light rain on the radar but all the thunderstorms seemed safely in Wisconsin and not expected into the Chicago area until afternoon. At the beach at 6:00 a visual inspection of the weather seemed to confirm this, so we set out in a very light drizzle. The water was calm, quite clear given the poor lighting, 72 with light chop. By the time we got to the wall we could see a storm brewing in the Northeast and even heard some distant thunder. We made haste to return with the storm following behind. We were on dry (for the time being) land in the mini-shower when the storm hit. At first it seemed like an improvement over the shower but then Mike realized that he had no convenient place to change for work. So we drove to the station in our speedos and I parked in a dry area under the tracks where we changed among the other commuters trying to stay dry while waiting for the train. The nice thing about the city is that nobody admits to noticing anything so it is like having complete privacy. As it turned out we should have left our suits on, there wasn't a dry place in the city. 3.5 inches of rain at the Evanston beaches and over 4 inches in the loop in about 2 hours.

Tuesday, August 21, Ohio Street: As the sun rises later a strategy we have adopted is to drive to Ohio Street and then we could swim later with Mike still getting to work on time. But this strategy is not working presently as the only parking we can find is on streets with a 7-9AM parking ban so we have to be out of the water by 7 anyway. When I started open water swimming I used to think Ohio Street was the ultimate, but the more I swim elsewhere the worse Ohio Street looks. This is partly because the water is about 3 feet down from the wall and very shallow. This detracts from the view and amplifies the dirty nature of the water there. And the triathletes don't help. They have erected fucking lane lines in the water! This hardly enhances open water swimming! Already at 6AM there were a dozen or so of these wetsuited swimmers who bike down from Lincoln Park or somewhere not realizing that they pass better swimming areas on the way. Some of these black suited triathletes are undoubtably lawyers, this is the Chicago version of a shark in in the water. Its been cool lately and the surface was only 71 with, and this is unusual, warmer water underneath.

Actually Sunday I had a choice of swimming with Mike in Evanston or swimming alone at Promentory Point since I had to drive my son down there anyway. I made the right choice. I thought it unusual that no one was visible in the water when I drove past the Point. I found out the next day that all the south side beaches were closed due to a sewage spill.

Sunday, September 2: Evanston has lifted the ban on swimming at Lee street so we are back in the water, somewhat later in the morning than usual due to the holiday. Pleasant weather, 71 degree but murky water with a slight sewage taste but otherwise uneventful. After the swim we were enjoying our morning coffee when a Park Ranger ordered us off the beach which, he explained, was closed due to bacteria. We wondered what sort of bacteria would be located just at this beach and would be so virulent that the beach as well as the water had to be closed. We don't know what it is called but we suspect it looks something like $$, as in the fee being charged at Lee St.

Monday, September 3, Labor Day: The water was not much clearer but tasted better, now the northern-most Chicago beaches are also open. The 70 degree water looked mostly flat with slight swell, which was confirmed on the way out but the waves were more noticeable on the way back. We noticed areas of "quicksand" on the Lake bottom, places where we sunk into the sand. Mike thinks these are places where sand has drifted but not yet packed, I think these are areas where the high water table is seeping into the Lake. An amusing incident occured as we were drinking our coffee (we came earlier today so as to be off the beach by the arrival of the bacteria at 10). A woman in the water had left her belongings in a bag near the water's edge. A dog visiting the beach came up to sniff and before we, Mike, I and the dogs owner, could yell NO in unison, the dog lifted its leg and left a yellow stain on the swimmer's dress. Leaving stuff unattended on the beach can be risky.

Tuesday, September 11 PM: It was not very patriotic of us to go to the beach while our country was under siege but the weather was awfully nice and both of us being kicked out of work had to go somewhere. The shock was that the water is now 63, the cause being, maybe, too much south wind. Fortunately we both had the foresight to bring our thermal caps so we had a nice swim to the wall and back, but the 2 foot waves that seemed so friendly on the outbound trip were much less so on the way back.