Pacific Jules

21/10/2011 - Highs and Lows

79 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

8 people swam early and enjoyed a bumpy trip to Queenscliff and back, Richard Agius certainly looks very happy relaxing up at Queenscliff headland :-)

5 people swam an early lap to Shelly and back and were rewarded with a large ray at the point and a turtle on the way back in !!

There was a decent surf rolling in and a fair bit of swell making for an entertaining swim this morning.  A few people enjoyed the half way beach option, we are sooo lucky that we have this option available to us so we can all still enjoy a swim regardless of the conditions.

There's quite a trough just off Manly Beach too; one second your standing on the beach, next thing your up to your shoulders in water, then you're in knee deep water again, all before you've even got your goggles on.

Our clean up swim was very worth while, lots of rubbish was gathered up and stored in unique places as we swam over and put in the bin liner that Robin Turner kindly carried over for us.

The first four dramatic photos are from James Goins, they're terrific as usual James, thank you !

Sadly there were two dead bloated '3 barred porcupine fish' floating half way across as you can see from one of the photos.  I wonder why, do they die at this time of year or is something in the water that is toxic to them ??

Tim's fact of the day: "Fish have a balloon inside their body to help
them float."

Happy Birthday to David Brocherie today !  A lovely photo of the birthday boy looking very happy to be starting his special day with a swim.

 Water Temperature 18.9 degrees.
 Air Temperature 17 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.07am.
 Sunset 7.13pm.
 Low Tide: 9.25am.
 High Tide: 3.52pm.

20/10/2011 - Flotsam & Jetsam

64 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

14 people did the tasty entree swim to Shelly and back this morning and enjoyed the gorgeous sunrise... and a vivid assortment of sealife !!! Some real, some surreal... a few murmurs about a tiger shark...  hopefully it was the tiger shark that James Goins caught on camera in Port Jackson's clothing...

A great photo of one of our many stingarees peacefully sitting in the sand too.

There was quite a lot of water moving around just off Manly, with a bit of a swell rolling in.

Lots of flotsam and jetsam floating across the bay after the strong noreasterly winds yesterday.  If it hasn't blown back out to sea by tomorrow morning maybe we should do a clean up swim.  What do you think ??

If it's nice and calm we could have a bin liner on a board which we can fill up as we swim acorss, otherwise we'll have to swim with it down our togs and empty them at each end... How about it ??

Tim's fact of the day: "Lobsters have blue blood."

 Water Temperature 19.4 degrees.
 Air Temperature 15 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.08am.
 Sunset 7.12pm.
 Low Tide: 8.12am.
 High Tide: 2.44pm.

19/10/2011 - Heaven Is A Place On Earth

74 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

The activity is really ramping up with these beautiful conditions; 4 people swam an early lap to Queensie and back, 9 people did an early lap to Shelly and back and 2 people enjoyed a bonus double lap after the regular 7am swim.

To quote James Goins: "heaven is a place on earth" - it is indeed, right here on our morning swims right now !!  It's just spectucular out there.  Beautiful clear skies, magnificent sunrises, warming clear calm ocean teeming with marine life for us to observe, enjoy and appreciate.  I know we say it all the time, but it's true...  It just doesn't get better than this.  If you're not swimming at the moment, start !!  It's perfect !!

Thanks for today's great photos James, including the lovely one of our friend the Fiddler Ray.

We had a lovely bonus surprise visit at Brekkie this morning by beautiful Baby Sydney and of course her lovely parents, David and Lindsay Adams.  Gosh Sydney is beautiful, she has so much hair and she gives great cuddles, see the lovely photo below :-)

A great night was had, as always, at our monthly sponsored nibbles at Manly Wine last night, thanks guys !!

Our B&B Steak Trivia night is not far away... next Wednesday, 26th October.  Please arrive at the Steyne Hotel from 6.30pm.  Dinner will be served at 7pm and trivia will kick off soon there after.  Don't forget to theme your table... There are some fantastic trivia and raffle prizes and some great items up for silent auction too.  It should be a great night we're really looking forward to it !!

To check your table please click here

To view the awesome prizes click here

The official Bolderdash starts very soon... Monday 31st October !!!  That is a lap to Queenscliff and back on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, leaving Manly at 5.50am to ensure we are back in time to join in the 7am swim :-)

There is a Ripples Fundraising Pink Breakfast at Whale Beach for Breast Cancer this Friday.  There is a B&B contingent going and seats are still available for $80 each, which is tax deductible.  Please let me know if you would like to join some of your B&B friends and support this great cause.

Tim's fact of the day: "Fish have cold blood."

 Water Temperature 19.3 degrees.
 Air Temperature 15 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.10am.
 Sunset 7.11pm.
 Low Tide: 7.07am.
 High Tide: 1.41pm.

18/10/2011 - Stunning, Super... Great Swim

72 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

13 people did an early lap and 3 people enjoyed a bonus double lap after the regular 7am swim.

It was magnificent conditions this morning, so clear and calm !!

Shame about the blanket of Jimbles this morning which were mainly gathered at the point, thankfully most people escaped Jimble free, but James Goins managed to get a great photo of them along with the lovely sunrise and the early swimmers entering around 6.20am.

If anyone is considering getting back into swimming, now is definitely the time, it really is beautiful out there and the chance of seeing whales or dolphins is pretty high at the moment too.

Gaetan took a lovely bright almost arial shot, of us all going in for the regular swim this morning after he bailed, post his early lap, thanks Gaetan.

Heidi James walked alongside us and got some great photos on route of this morning's swim, thanks Heidi. 

Michael is that a flathead in flathead's clothing today ???

Little Sarah Abbott saw our Estuary Catfish (kindly identified by Jane yesterday)  just before the point this morning, plus she also saw a shovel nosed shark or a fiddler ray... we couldn't quite work out the identity as Sarah and Jon's description were very different.  Although Sarah did set a new trend as she forget her trousers, so maybe Jon's description is more reliable... ;-)

Manly Wine Sponsored B&B October Nibbles is TONIGHT from 6.30pm, look forward to seeing you all there.

Tim's fact of the day: "Fish never stop growing.  The older they get the bigger they grow."

 Water Temperature 18.8 degrees.
 Air Temperature 16 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.11am.
 Sunset 7.10pm.
 Low Tide: 6.14am.
 High Tide: 12.47pm.  

17/10/2011 - Up Close & Personal

32 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Cae Toleman and Nick TB Dowson did an early lap and John Bond and Michael Christie enjoyed a bonus double lap after our regular 7am swim.

It was a lovely swim this morning, the water was beautiful and clear and it was glassy flat after the rain.

Our friendly little family of baby squid were there to welcome us into Shelly Beach and our beautiful yellow catfish was sitting on his own on the sand just before the point, as if poised ready to get up close and personal with the camera.

If you are interested in seeing a larger version of any of the photos, just click on them and they should pop up larger in a new window.

Lots of stingarees around this morning too, there was one in particular out in the middle that had lots of fish all around it kicking up the sand.  Not sure what was going on, but it was kinda cute.

A pod of dolphins cruised past the point just before 9am.

Manly Wine B&B sponsored October Nibbles is on tomorrow evening from 6.30pm !!! Hope to see you all there.

Laurrie Stubbs sent a message to say they had a fella from B&B swam with them yesterday in Bulli, Patrick was his name and they had dolphines, whales and rays... a great day on the water !!

How nice is that !  That would have been Patrick Coleman.  Glad to hear they put on a show for you down there Patrick, but hope you come back for your regular swim with us tomorrow and hope to see you for your Manly swim on Wednesday Laurrie :-)

Tim's fact of the day: "Fish can’t close their eyes. They have no eyelids."

 Water Temperature 18.8 degrees.
 Air Temperature 14 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.12am.
 Sunset 7.09pm.
 High Tide: 12.40am.
 Low Tide: 6.40pm.

16/10/2011 - Dolphin Wonderland !!!

69 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Tim was right, there was indeed dolphins and whales this morning and the conditions were devine !!  Tim didn't even swim, but he took some great photos for us !!

As we walked past the point on our way to swimming this morning there were dolphins cruising past on their way to the Bower, damn we thought we had missed them...

Then as we got ready there was a whale breaching off shore, it too was heading to the Bower.

But... as we entered the water the dolphins must of heard us as they came back and joined us for a swim right at the point, no kidding, they really were RIGHT THERE SWIMMING WITH US !!!  Check out the photos !!  There was a beautiful flathead swimming too which James managed to get a great shot of.

Sooo many amazing photos for you all to enjoy today thanks to James Goins, Robin Turner and Tim Ettle.

8 people continued on 'lapping up' the conditions and enjoyed a bonus double lap.

A great time as always at Manly Wine for our apres swim too.

Welcome back to Vicki and Mahdi, what a great welcome home swim after 9 weeks away.  
Tim's fact of the day: "Giant cuttlefish have green blood."

Thanks to Linda Goodwin and master blogger Timberlie Ettle for looking after all things Bold & Beautiful yesterday, in the less than ideal conditions, whilst we were off busy enjoying ourselves.

Thank you for all your kind words too, I don't know how we forget to take our pink caps but we did, what can I say... :-(  I have a feeling I don't need to say anything, you guys will have enough to say on the matter,  sorry !!

 Water Temperature 18.8 degrees.
 Air Temperature 14 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.13am.
 Sunset 7.09pm.
 High Tide: 11.20am.
 Low Tide: 5.54pm.

15/10/2011 - Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming...

Good morning fellow swimmers:

First of all I’d like to say smile. Be happy with your life, you live in (or near Manly) and swim in the ocean on a daily basis. You lucky people, what better way to start the day.
 
Well, the observant ones amongst you will have noticed an absence of 2 regular swimmers this morning, that’s right, (Jules and Michael have MISSED A SWIM!) shock horror.
 
Jules finally got to celebrate her ‘Masters Degree’ and partied late into the night in ‘old Sydney town’ so couldn’t make the swim today. - Well done Jules (10 points for Gryffindor).
 

For those doubters amongst us who don’t believe in superheroes, this ones for you. 
Spiderman is alive and well and living (and swimming) on the Northern beaches – here is photographic proof from Tuesday’s swim.  His Spidey senses must be tingling. Hey Jim what’s with the square pouch in the Sluggos?

On a different note, good luck to Patrol 15. Today is their first patrol of the season, apparently they are the best patrol in the whole of MLSC! Go NTB and Co.
 
So, onto today’s swim:
We had 56 swimmers and 6 newbie’s

Well what a surprise...Jules was absent and the weather and ocean turned nasty! Jules do you have a direct line straight to Mother Nature and Poseidon?

Today it was a case of 'Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming' and try to ignore the objects flora, fauna and man made that slapped you in the face and tangled around your fingers.

A strong rip helped us out and some waves and chop pushed us back and then the heavens opened and we were blessed with rain and grey skies from the point onwards. A few did an early lap and strangly Nick TB throughly enjoyed this mornings swim which was not the majority vote!

Jules will be back tomorrow so a quick call to higher forces and lets have the beautiful conditions of late back pleaseeeeeeeeeeee.

Photos from James and Gaetan, proof Whales were seen this morning, seems they even joined us for coffee at Manly Wine!

Weather – Could be better
Water – Warmish but not that nice
Fact - that we live in Manly – Very nice indeed thankyou!
Sunrise - Yes it did
Sunset – I hope it does
 
High tide – More than likely
Low Tide – Probably after the above
 
Apparently Jules has ordered Dolphins and Whales for tomorrows swim so you’d be a fool to miss it regardless of the weather so get your bum down to the beach and join in. Be there or be a lazy loser.
 
Have a great weekend, hope to see you all in the water soon.
 
Guest and Best Blogger
 
 

14/10/2011 - The Manly Bumps

68 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

15 people did the early lap although no one was keen for the double afterwards, now there's a surprise...

With the cloudly skies and the strong noreasterly wind it was certainly a bumpy and choppy swim today, in total contrast to the rest of this week.

But... there was a beautiful family of little squid just close to Shelly Beach which you can just see in the photo opposite.

Lots of big bluies on the beach but we were lucky enough to get a pretty clear run free of them for our swim, not sure anyone going later in the day will have the same luck as this wind is pretty strong.

Tim's fact of the day: "The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car."

A fantastic on tour photo below from Peter Wood who is currently competing in his 17th Baseball Masters Competition, this one is the Australian Masters in Adelaide.  Great shot Peter, I hope the pink cap helped you with your shot.  Did you win ??

 Water Temperature 19.3 degrees.
 Air Temperature 13 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.16am.
 Sunset 7.07pm.
 High Tide: 10.09am.
 Low Tide: 4.33pm.

13/10/2011 - Father of Three...

PHOTOS OF SYDNEY ANNE ADAMS NOW UPDATED BELOW...  She is beautiful !!

56 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Well there was certainly a lot of B&B activity out there this morning...

12 people did the early lap at 6.20am, 3 of whom also did an even earlier lap at 6am; David Adams, James Goins and Malcolm Armour who were up early celebrating Papa Dave being our newest Dad !! :-)

Photos of Baby Sydney are promised later today, but in the mean time you can enjoy a photo of the happy father at Shelly Beach on his middle lap, as this morning Dave also became a 'Father of Three'... trips to Shelly and back :-) 

56 people did the regular 7am swim and 4 of those continued on for the bonus double lap afterwards.

So... if anybody had of been super keen they could have ranked up a quadruple, but as it was I think, all up, 4 people did a triple.

So who's up for what tomorrow ??  Any quadruplers out there ???

A lovely early shot from James Goins and a fantastic photo of a blue bottle which Nicolee Goins took at North Curly this morning.  As much as we don't like bluies in the flesh it is a great photo.

As Michael predicted the conditions were perfect again today, giving us another superb swim with blue skies and flat, calm, clear water.

No dolphins, whales, orcas or turtles but there were loads of fish, lots of Stingarees, a beautiful Port Jackson and Catfish at the point.

Princess Pete saw a baby Catfish or Wobbegong, we're not quite sure which... and then there were 3 beautiful relaxed Starfish chilling out just off the beach as you can see from the photo below.

Tim's fact of the day: "The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car."

 Water Temperature 19 degrees.
 Air Temperature 14 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.17am.
 Sunset 7.06pm.
 High Tide: 9.36am.
 Low Tide: 3.56pm.

12/10/2011 - Dolphin Delights

63 'ticked' Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

An amazing 22 people did the early lap, and the double lap didn't happen as there were dolphins EVERYWHERE...

As we swam back to Manly on the regular 7am swim a dolphin swam right underneath us, as we stopped to say dolphins to each other a massive pod of dolphins leaped past us and the swam all around us.  It was AMAZING !!!! Shame for those who only did the early lap...

Needless to say the double lap post the 7am swim didn't happen as we were too busy enjoying ourselves with the dolphins.

Did I mention there were dolphins this morning !? :-)

Apparently the dolphins had previously been swimming just off the Bower with a whale !!

What a magical morning: clear skies and no surf at all so it was as flat az...  It was calm, clear and full of great company!

6.20am swim tomorrow anyone ???  How could you resist, the water is absolutely spectacular and there have been dolphins and whales around continuously for the last three days.

OUR NEWEST B&B MEMBER HAS ARRIVED...
Sydney Anne Adams arrived late last night, photos to follow soon.  David says: "Moms great, baby's great, Dad's still a pain in the butt."  Congratulations to David and Lindsay and welcome little Sydney, how exciting all these little B&B babies who will be able to learn to swim together ;-)

Click here to read this amazingly inspirational story which Stephen Coulter found yesterday...

Tim's fact of the day: "A baby grey whale drinks enough milk to fill more than 2000 bottles a day."

 Water Temperature 18.6 degrees.
 Air Temperature 12 degrees.
 Sunrise 6.18am.
 Sunset 7.05pm.
 High Tide: 9.04am.
 Low Tide: 3.19pm.