Local swimmers honor the life of Erica Fox with a tribute swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

Before dawn on a Monday morning in June, 16 swimmers from Monterey County gather at the marina in Sausalito, carrying wetsuits, goggles and heartfelt stories of Erica Fox.

Six months earlier, on Dec. 21, 2025, Fox was taken by a white shark while swimming off Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. The event made international news and sent shock waves through Monterey Bay and California’s open-water swimming community.

On this morning, Fox was not being remembered as a headline. She was being remembered as a wife, friend, competitor, mentor, co-founder of the Kelp Krawlers, and one of the most recognizable figures in Monterey Bay swimming.

Sixteen swimmers and two passengers had come together to honor Fox in a way that felt fitting: entering the water together and swimming a crossing she had completed many times before.

This year would have marked Fox’s 20th time racing in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. It was an event she loved and one in which she frequently stood on the podium. For many of us, the crossing felt less like a memorial and more like a continuation of a conversation with someone who had shaped our lives.

Everyone aboard the three boats knew Fox. Longtime swimming partners and friends each carried a unique story. Together, those stories revealed something no news report ever could: the depth of the relationships she cultivated and the community she helped create.

In the months following Fox’s death, swimmers throughout Monterey Bay found themselves wrestling with difficult questions. How do we continue doing something we love after such a loss? How do we hold grief while remaining open to the joy and freedom that first drew us into the ocean? How do we honor someone without allowing the circumstances of their death to become the entirety of their story?

How do we hold grief while remaining open to joy?

There are no universal answers. What emerged instead was community. Friends checked in on one another. People gathered to swim. Stories were shared. The ocean remained both beautiful and wild, reminding us that risk and wonder have always lived side by side.

We boarded three boats, operated by Pacific Open Water Swim Co., and approached Alcatraz in the early morning light. Celebration, gratitude and sadness mingled together, much the way grief itself often does.

Then it was time to swim. One by one, we entered the water and began swimming toward San Francisco. This was not a race to win. There was no podium waiting on shore. The significance of the day lay elsewhere. For some, the swim was an offering, for others an act of remembrance. It was a way of expressing gratitude for a friendship that continues to shape our lives.

The currents moved beneath and between us. The city slowly drew closer. Stroke by stroke, we carried Fox’s memory 1.8 miles across the bay and onto land.

STEVEN HARPER is an open-water swimmer, wilderness leader and workshop facilitator. He lives in Big Sur and organized this tribute swim.