Yesterday I went out and did my second ocean swim with this group in Monterey. They are called the Kelp Krawlers, here is a good video of what they do:
So I did that swim to the buoy last time in pretty choppy water, and it was tough. I struggled and stuck to breast stroke most of the time. It was about a mile total.
Yesterday they went along the coast instead, and it was a very different experience. First off, I felt strong swimming front crawl the whole time and was able to stay with swimmers better. I got a bit of a headache at first from the cold, but it went away after a couple minutes and I as comfortable. It was crazy navigating through the kelp maze, and I had to crawl over a few patches to stay with the group. I kept thinking about how Subnautica makes this seems much easier. I went a bit too wide and ended up swimming way more than I expected to get to a little rocky outcropping out in the middle of the coast that they stop at.
At this point I'd swam about 1600 yards. I felt good, but I could tell I was getting colder, so we turned around and I tried to make sure my line was straighter. I was watching a guy about twenty yards ahead of me and realized that a seal was swimming right between us. Off to the side a bunch of birds were staring at us from the rocks, and underneath me were giant kelp trees. It was a fairly ridiculous situation, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.
I got way cold about 45 minutes in and made a beeline for a beach. I ended up with about 2500 yards total, but my watch quit on me on the way back, so I'm guessing. It was crazy, but I should be ready for my half ironman swim in 2 weeks.