2nd try at Ocean Swimming

Went to the beach alone last Saturday for another try at open water swimming.
Found 3 people (probably in their late 50's) training for a triathlon as well! At first, I said, yay, I can finally train with others!
So I put my suit on (embarassingly asked somebody on the pier to zip me up!) and went on the water. Amazingly, it doesn't feel as cold as the last time I went (it was around 64 deg this time).
Come to find out they were just training to "catch a wave" and not doing much swimming.
And so I just asked how long a mile was in the water. The trainer pointed to a landmark along the beach and just went for it. I wasn't swimming straight for there were no lane markers to follow like in a pool so I probably swam farther to get to the landmark.
On the way back was a different story...I only got halfway through and I was really tired. Swam towards the shore and just walked towards the starting mark. I was a bit discouraged and was really considering downgrading my race to the shorter one.
But driving back home, I thought of driving parallel to where I swam to determine how long it really was. It was about .6 miles! So it was longer. Gonna try this weekend again and see.
Took my bike to the shop where I bought it to have it checked and tune-up. Planning to go running tonight.