The whole winter crew was on this unseasonal west and so the crowd factor was pretty serious. Even the dolphins were getting into the thick of things, cruising up the point right through the middle of the lineup and generally coming up right behind hapless skittish groms who were more than willing to swear and jump.

Then, just a few minutes later after I was done laughing at one of them, something went bump right against my toes. Hard. I jumped, jerking my leg out of the water and swearing, then instantly my fear turned into self-loathing. Did anyone see me get freaked out by what was probably a piece of kelp?

Put my foot back in the water, and felt the bump again. This time I played it cool, and leaned over to see what it was. Turned out not to be the prevailing macrocystis or "giant kelp" knocking against my foot but a playful little seal pup, no more than two feet long, slapping me with his tail. He surfaced a few feet away from me and gave me one of those mopey, teary-eyed seal stares, then headed off to the west, perhaps to the haulout or to find another surfer to harass.

Dialed into one perfect head-high set wave somehow amidst all the crowd and rode it laughing all the way to the top of the cove. Stoked out of my mind, I almost got out right there. Couldn't handle any more, that one wave was too good. A wave that I'd have accepted with a casual grin before paddling back for more in January had me surfed-out now, after enduring a month of practically no water time.

So, I dithered about for a bit, got some fun rivermouth bowls and hassled the crowd in the cove before taking some whitewater in and walking back up the point.