The sea sparkled as the fresh April sunshine caught the ripples, like lines of tiny mirrors, twinkling back to the blue sky. Huge Cumulus clouds sat solidly overhead causing seasons of shade and deep green patches on the sea, like hidden depths of creatures with unknown origins.

I walked and slid down the brown banks of small stones, steeply built up by the washing waves. It took some time to get into the wetsuit, as I had not been out in the wild for three months, and was not sure how my mind and body would cope with the cold.

The beach descends steeply into the water, and in a few short steps, I was swimming. The sun shone intermittently as I swam out of my depth in four strokes, and the pleasure of swimming in an emerald green and azure expanse, was overwhelming. The sea melds with the beep blue sky and I felt at home.

After fifteen minutes I shed my selkie skin and took to the deep in my own skin, where I was able to feel the water and the freedom of feeling cold, using the power of my own muscles to slip through that amazing medium of water.

The chalky cliffs stand as a wall defence between the land and ocean, giving the appearance of a circle of earth, dipping down under the horizon. I image swimming out there and what it would be like to be in the sea, with no prospect of even seeing the land. I can swim out so far, but the call of those darkened depths is one I ignore.