Promontory Point, June 8

The weather was expected to change (and did) this afternoon so Mike suggested we drive to the south side to see what Promontory Point looked like. I wasn't so keen on him driving trough the city in the 90 degree heat in his car with a defunct air conditioner but it was his turn to drive so I came along. The good news is that most of the work on the 57th St. beach is done and no work appears to being done on the point. So it was very pleasant. We were suprised that no one else was swimming, although we did get there fairly late, around 10:30. The water on the rock ledge near the retaining wall was around 60 so didn't feel too cold. We decided to aim for the first bouy and decide then what to do. We almost considered turning around there but figured that since we had driven all this way we should go at least to the second bouy. Still not an official swim but enough in the 58 degree water. For those not familiar with our ongoing blog, we don't use wetsuits except in extreme situations and today was not one of them, but we usually try to avoid water below 60 early in the season. The nice thing was that when we got back to the ledge the 60 felt warm, and it was actually not a bad snorkeling day in the relatively calm and clear water. Lots of smelt, perch and a few trout. Mike grabbed a crawfish in his hand for me to look at, then put it back. Mike stayed in for about 15 more minutes but now I understand why people prefer snorkeling in warm tropical waters. We had bought beach chairs so enjoyed our mostly private spot for a while and did another quick swim to the first bouy before leaving. One of the really great beach days.

Postscript: The June 9 Chicago Tribune confirmed our observations claiming the Lake was 7 degrees warmer than last year and a whopping 17 degrees warmer than June 7th of two years ago, at least at the weather bouy. Good news is that the Lake is 3 inches higher than last year.