
Here's a kiss from Gary the Groper for Valentine's Day folks! If you want it for real, head out to the rocks at The Bower surf break, you might be lucky!
Well it was rather dull and dreary today especially when we heard that there were lots of bluebottles about but around 250 turned up and we had swimmers everywhere, at the harbour, going North, around the rocks and a few brave ones to Shelly. Before I post about today's swim let's think about 'love' and the B&B!

A few of us have been lucky enough to witness some of the beautiful marine creatures of Cabbage Tree Bay getting romantic. You could even catch a bit of shark porn. I thought this was a white plastic bag 4 years ago off Shelly... but on closer inspection, Port Jacksons mating !!

In Winter Giant Cuttlefish are often 'at it' in our bay (and there's usually a small male disguised as a female waiting to get in on the action!)

Sometimes you just might happen to come across Rock Cod snogging...

I came across a Pommy guy in union jack budgies pursuing lovely Heather the other day... (we won't tell Cam).

Maybe we'd better not tell Patricia or Jo about Nick and Rainer's 'bromance' either ;-)!

Love (amongst humans) has blossomed many times down at the B&B as the photos above show. Pictured above are a few long lasting romances that I think I'm allowed to mention.'Lainey's Matchmaking Services' have helped a few along, I might add. (If anyone wants me to organise dates see me after the swim, remember 'Subtle' is my middle name).
Anyway back to today's swim...

Here is JK announcing to 7am swimmers that there have been multiple reports of Blueys and everyone swims at their own risk.

I opted to swim close to the rocks and see the marine life. Lots of tiny schools of Mados, Pomfred and Hula fish!

Around 70 people made it to Shelly including Pete above dressed up for Valentine's Day. (Single and ready to mingle too I'll just add!)
Good old Richard was our 'Pied Piper' today. He checked out a pathway in between Bluebottles for swimmers to swim through. He did this for 6.30 and 7am swimmers and barely anyone got stung.

Except Phil who insisted on showing me his sting (and armpit) thanks Phil.

Not a good shot but you can just make out Richard and his trail of pink capped swimmers

Back at the Surf Club, Fiona and Anne showed off their stings too!

Whilst Kelly showed her cute nephew Finn in his new shark suit!
We still had 16 newbies today and the water was as warm as it gets 24.3 :-)
...And a few marine life photos of when the water was clearer last week...

Fan Bellied Leatherjacket

Yellowtail

Old Wives

This Crimson Banded Wrasse is a special friend of Fiona's and is quite tame coming right up to your face when you dive down!

This is Fi diving down to him!

Beautiful Groper with Mados hanging around. They're hoping to get an incidental feed when he chomps up sea urchins and limpets.
Manly Inflatable Boat Race is on again on 25th Feb and they are raising money for Tour de Cure. They are looking for volunteers if anyone can help out. It should be so much fun!https://www.facebook.com/events/1961248197459089/
TAKE3#FORTHESEA
A lot of our swimmers pick up plastic and bits of rubbish from our bay...We've now got a pink bucket to collect these items and encourage more people to do it. Thank you to Jan and Rachel McNally for bringing it. It will be left by the signing on table and tree! To find out more about #take3forthesea click here https://www.take3.org/

I found a Valentine's Day blog I wrote 4 years ago when I was hunting around for inspiration. If you're interested click here to see what we were up to on 14th Feb 2013! It's a bit more entertaining than this blog http://pacificjules.typepad.com/pacific-jules/2013/02/140213-happy-valentines-day-swimmers.html

This is one of the photos from it bahaha!
Monthly Dinner – 13th February 2018 – Guest Speakers
The first B&B monthly dinner for the year was held last night at Bluewater Restaurant. The guest speakers on the night were Dr Ezequiel “Ziggy” Marzinelli and Dr Adriana Verges from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) and our very own Dorset. They gave an excellent talk on the need to restore crayweed in to Cabbage Tree Bay. Crayweed supports unique biodiversity including lobster and abalone. we have the potential to improve the ecological and economic value of our marine environment. Most of us agreed that it would be a great project to be a part of. Speak to Dorset for more info!
Have a great day folks
lots of love
Lainey (Photo from V Day 4 years ago. I'm now totally against balloons!)

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Libby said come and meet the movie star artists:
Support your local community - Manly Art Gallery Society presents BRILLIANT ARTISTS Film Series 2018 - 4 brilliant films in 4 months...including WHITELEY, ARCHIBALD PRIZE...Bookings through Eventbrite (search 'Brilliant Artists')
Wine and cheese.
Royal Far West
Royal Far West were delighted last year with the response of B&B swimmers to their request for assistance with their activity programs. This year RFW is looking for volunteers to help with their beach games onWednesday afternoon 3.30-5 pm They run beach volleyball, sand play, volleyball, cricket and soccer. Children are of all ages and abilities, and love the help and positive attention. If you can assist with this very rewarding program, please contact Anna Bowden at [email protected].
RANDOM MONTHLY SWIMMER PRIZES STARTING IN FEBRUARY !!
Thanks to an amazing new partnership, B&B will be awarding random monthly prizes just for swimming !!!!
What's the catch... you MUST LOG YOUR SWIMS TO BE IN THE DRAW !!! To learn more about how to log your swims if you aren't already, please find details further down in this newsletter
As of 1st February, every time you swim with B&B and log your swim as such, on our daily attendance software, you will automatically be entered into the monthly lucky swim prize !!!
Yep, each time you swim with B&B and log your swim that equals an entry into the random prize draw !!!
Prize draw will be completed at the end of each calendar month and completed by the computer software.
And there's more... THERE WILL BE AN EVEN BIGGER PRIZE FOR RANDOM SWIMMER OF THE YEAR !
And there's still more.... there will be a surprise event with maybe even more prizes... launching this relationship and the details of the prizes one weekend in February. I guess you'll have to swim to be lucky enough to be there :-)
*Conditions apply:
You must swim with B&B in the mornings to be eligible to log your swim.
Completing your own swims later in the day, whilst that is awesome, it isn't eligible for logging.
You must complete your log for the morning swim on the morning of your swim.
All swims, as always, are completed at your own risk, as per general B&B disclaimer.
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