13/01/2019 - Warm Wobbegong Wednesday

One of B&B's lovely, senior couples, Peter and Lenore. Peter swims and Lenore walks, waits and chats. Really gorgeous, humble people as are most of our B&B swimmers. Around 300 of us today, on a warm Summer morning, water temp 20.2 and though we were warned of a strong current most of us found swimming wide on the way back got us in fine.

...and three of our younger swimmers from Babewatch. Here's Murray and Bronnie with Murray's brother 'Chumpy'. (He's named after his favourite toy giraffe so Murray tells me ;-)

Some of our 8 newbies today, Brian, Elly and Martin. Welcome to the world's largest (probably) and happiest ocean swim group!

Crossing over with some 6.30am swimmers. Here are Chris and PB or Paul. Paul is my 'Catch of the Day' today, lovely guy!

Jo is sandwiched between the guys that keep this amazing group going and do so much behind the scenes. Thank you John and Ian, (sometimes referred to as 'Management' in a jokey way!) Unfortunately an escapee from the 'Loony Bin' gets in on the photo from behind ;-(

Heather and Michele forever bright and friendly always put a smile on my dial.

Craig and his friend. It's Craig's son Scotty's birthday today. We'll see him soon...

Some new swimmers. They'll be wearing a cap next time I'm sure.

I'm a bit late getting in today and miss the Turtle that quite a few lucky people get to see at The Point. Apparently it appeared just at the 'Let's Go' and then swam towards Queenscliffe. Here's Petra excitedly showing me how big the Turtle was when I met up with her at Shelly!

Here's the A Team holding up one of their nicest members, Scotty!

Michael, Steve and the great guys from Clarke and Humel.

Not many Wows here today but here we have Alison, Georgina and Amanda. (Happy Birthday for yesterday Bin!)

Alex, Joe, Rachel and friends

Happy Birthday to Scotty Mellis. 40 years today!

I hope you beat your A Team buddies to the beach today Scotty!

Leaving Shelly a few of us came across this gorgeous Wobbegong shark swimming metres from the beach.

In all the 8 years I've been swimming with the B&B this is the only shark that has been reported as injuring a swimmer/surfer. The surfer probably stood on him too as it was in the shallows! Most of us can't believe that baited Drum lines have been installed only 500 metres from our beach as a way of preventing shark attacks. (Attacks that regular swimmers know don't happen.) Surely by luring in sharks with live bait they are encouraging more dangerous sharks to come closer? At the bottom of the blog we've been asked to put some information about these 'Dumblines' but I'd just like to say most of us swimmers love the marine life and the sanctuary that this reserve gives them. The thought that dolphins, Wobbegongs, Turtles etc could be injured because of these lines is quite upsetting. Feel free to comment at the end of the blog but let's please keep a pleasant tone to our comments!

Some of the large Jellyfish around yesterday. They seemed to have all gone today...

I took photos as the racer swimmers went through a couple of them by the point!

A very happy Caro and Ruth after seeing the Turtle today!

A Turtle I saw a couple of years ago here in CTB!

 

DRUM LINES AT MANLY

SMART (Shark Management Alert in Real Time) drumlines will be trialled off Sydney beaches from Barrenjoey to Newport and from Dee Why to Manly as part of a three month trial.

 

From 10 February to 12 May 2019, 20 SMART drumlines will be trialled at Palm, Whale, Avalon, Bilgola, Newport, Manly, Queenscliff, Freshwater, Curl Curl and Dee Why beaches near existing shark nets.

 

This technology has achieved strong results on both the North and South Coast and will now be tested at some of the State’s most popular beaches. There is no intention to remove shark nets from Sydney, Wollongong or Newcastle beaches.

 

SMART drumlines allow contractors to humanely and safely catch sharks, tag them and then relocate them away from swimmers and surfers before releasing them. When a tagged shark is detected, the community is instantly alerted through the SharkSmart App and Twitter feeds.Watch the SMART drumline video

 

The drumlines will be set 500 metres offshore every morning (weather permitting) and collected at the end of each day. They consist of two buoys and a satellite-linked communications unit, which is attached to a hook baited with a single mullet.

 

DPI will host a series of community drop-in stands at trial beaches today and in the coming weeks to speak with locals about how SMART drumlines operate and share results from previous trials.

 

Have a great day folks!

Lainey