Photo of Lauren taken Sunday over Bower rocks! Even with Covid restrictions we must admit we've still had a fantastic year of swimming in Cabbage Tree Bay! We've had more Turtles and Grey Nurse sightings than ever before. By staggering our swim times and breaking into smaller groups new friendships have formed. We now have a 'Lunchtime Swimmers' group, 'The Manmaids and Mermaids', 'Weirdos of the Wall', 'The Mods or Men of Door' and can't not mention 'The Wows', Drinks Express, Originals and many more! Hopefully the friendliness and welcoming ethos of inclusion and support will continue in spite of these smaller groups!
The love and support offered to our beloved Errol when he suffered a minor stroke this year shows the care in this community of swimmers. He has been back swimming and is healthy again but presently in lockdown.Here he is with son Scott a couple of weeks ago.
A very old photo of our founder Julie Isbill with partner Michael. Jules who started the B&B 12 years ago has recently been inducted in to the Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. I quote her here :'I still have to pinch myself. To be inducted into the Australia Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, still seems so surreal.
AMSHOF have kindly listed ‘my’ swimming achievements, but they are actually ‘yours’ - every single person who has supported me.
Bold & Beautiful - the highlight of my life. Seeing literally thousands of people achieve things they never even dreamed of. Lives have been forever changed. Mine has been forever enriched, thanks to that fateful swim, almost 12 years ago to the day. Over 22,000 people have swum with B&B during this time and B&B is going stronger than ever thanks to our amazing team of dedicated volunteers 
'
We've had lots of Turtle sightings this year and thanks to the great work by Marco Borderieu and the Sydney Viz page they have been documented. There have been a few rescues and rehabilitations thanks to The Australian Seabird Rescue Central Coast. Ella and Billie were found to have ingested plastic but were rehabilitated and released back in to our bay.
We've also seen more Grey Nurse sharks whilst swimming than in any other year of the B&B. I remember one Saturday about 2 months ago Roger reported seeing "One Mum, a Dad and a couple of teenagers". Others said, "I saw one 4 times or 4 different ones". They were different sizes so there were definitely a few out there!
Some of us have been lucky enough to see marine creatures mating this year. I saw Port Jacksons having a good go a few months back. A few saw Giant Cuttlefish mating and even Blind Sharks!
The largest Stingray on earth, the Smooth Stingray has also been around the bay a lot this year. I saw him really active in the shallows of Shelly once. Exciting but a little scary!
We've had the pleasure of looking at some great drone shots of the swim this year and our Cabbage Tree Bay. Here is one of Greg Cole's above.
The Wows above celebrating the lovely Kerry leaving Aus to go back to the USA a few months ago. Great shots again courtesy of Greg.
A couple of my shots of our amazing sunrises this year shot from a swimmer's garage roof!
Back to today's swim. The seaweed and blueys had gone and water was calm, clear and warm!
Here is a shower scene of the 6.30amers or 'Drinks Express'post-swim.
The beautiful Numbray spotted off The Point today
School of Yellowtail near the shed.
Lots of beautiful Gropers!
The 'Manmaids and Mermaids' off for a Bolderdash!
A couple of funny shots to end off with of Dave and George trying out masks earlier in the year!
Management notices
SUMMER BADGES - Summer: 1st Dec - 28th Feb
Due to government restrictions, this summer we will not be organising 6km or 10km swims or badges. Instead... we are offering the following badges:
- Triple Manly to Shelly- swim 3x laps of Manly to Shelly Beach and back, any day during summer - distance 3.5km
- Covid Summer Challenge- swim 30 times over 7 different weeks of summer
- Corona Super Swimmer- swim 50 times over summer
You will earn and be eligible for any / all of these badge if you complete these swims and log them in i-Log
As for the winter swims, you can swim anywhere at any time to qualify, but if you don’t swim at Manly, you must log a Covid Challenge Swim
Keep swimming and Happy New Year!
Lainey Loo xx
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