Pacific Jules

Tuesday 28/02 - Last day of summer and a swim of contradictions

It all started well, looking like a lovely morning air and sea.

The yogis doing their thing.

A balmy 22.5 in the water and flat seas.

Sally, Jo, Rob and Karen of the mer/manmaids prepping at their spot on the silver bench. Normally they are a much bigger bunch?

Lindsay and Carolyn looking very excited about getting into the water, possibly pre jelly report!

Liz, Deb, Fi and Rob also still feeling positive.

Claudia just getting the jelly report from Ian, who has a couple of dates for us, see below.

Dean, Tim, Bruce and Tony ready to celebrate Bruce's birthday. Hopefully they made it to Shelley for the sing and splash, obviously I didn't.

So report was the jellies were north and in the bay which didn't leave a lot of options. Didn't hear many positive reports afterwards, lots of people stung but many ploughed on through. Big, orange jellies, smaller white ones plus an abundance of sea lice, however no bluebottles spotted so I can only assume that 's the only sign the surf lifesavers have. Looking at the ocean it looked picture perfect so it was a bit of a shame that it was so bitey/stingy, even when we returned to play in  the shallows.

Still a swim, however brief, is better than no swim.

SAVE THE DATE from Ian, Sunday April 23rd for next badge ceremony.

Tuesday night dinners are moving.

A change of night and a change of venue.

This month’s talk, ARE THERE MONSTERS DOWN THERE?

Dr Penny Berents, Senior Fellow at the Australian Museum (and B&B swimmer) recently spent six weeks on a research voyage in remote parts of the Indian Ocean. Scientists probed 5,000 metres below the surface to study the weird animals that inhabit this little-known hostile part of our planet. Penny will speak about what they discovered as well as life on board a research ship.

DATE: Monday March 13 at 6:30 PM

VENUE: Upstairs at Manly Surf Club. A Licensed bar will be open.

FOOD: Bring a plate. If you can, coordinate with some others so we don’t end up with 35 cheese plates.

COST: $10 per head. Donating to Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Numbers are limited so book early on the website HERE. It will not only be informative but an excuse to have fun on a Monday night.

Have a great day all.

 

Amanda

 

Monday 27 Feb - Happy Monday (ft mainly Leah & her mates)

Hey guys 

 

Happy Monday!!! 

In typical Monday fashion, the A Team were in full force this morning which is always lovely to see and is the best way to start the week. 

The water was a warm 22.7 and was quite clear, with a little wave right at the point. One of these little waves very kindly took my goggles right off my face on the way back in though 🙈

 

I only saw one of those horrid pink jellies on my swim (and according to Scotty, I punched it haha) but luckily it didn’t sting me. Most of us stuck closer to the rocks & stayed safe. Dave, however, not listening to Ian’s advice went wide and swam into a wall of them!! Needless to say, he’s covered in stings! Be careful out there everyone & stay close to the rocks!

 

Fun fact about me - I love matching budgies. My 2 besties and my boyfriend and I all have matching budgies (different print for each LOL) and it makes me so happy 😊!!!
This is me & Lou being matchy matchy 💜 

Side note - Leah is in the background 😂

 

One of my besties Leah & I, but not matching today unfortunately 😢

Leah & her mates farewelling Ben (he’s heading back to the UK)

 

Leah & Ian 😊 

Leah seems to be the star of the blog today LOL 

 

Oh it’s Leah and more of her mates 😂

 

 

Jelly bait Dave & todays champ Scotty!

 

Enjoy your week guys. See you all tomorrow. 

Tilly xx 

 

Stunning Sunday without many Jellies! 26/3

A little performance after our swim by a Chinese dance troupe. Hard to work out what it was about as they only spoke Chinese but a beautiful sight!

Lesbubbs and Suzanne in the 22.4 degree water

Some of The Jellyfish group!

sorry guys Typepad won’t let me post any more photos so a short blog. I’ll post them on the swimmers Facebook page!

keep swimming!

Lainey

 

 

 

 

Friday 24 February 2023 Noteworthy swim

There were so many things of note today:

It was very dark at 6 am. There were a huge number of jellyfish in the bay and none up north. There were occasional unexpectedly big waves. There was a rainbow and then a double rainbow!

People preparing for the swim

IN we go

 

Kate Ahmad's photo of the swarm of jelly fish in the middle

Friday 24 February 2023 Noteworthy swim

There were so many things of note today:

It was very dark at 6 am. There were a huge number of jellyfish in the bay and none up north. There were occasional unexpectedly big waves. There was a rainbow and then a double rainbow!

People preparing for the swim

IN we go

 

Kate Ahmad's photo of the swarm of jelly fish in the middle

Monday 20 February - Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Monday all!! 

The water was a lovely 22.9 this morning, however it was a little bumpy & whilst the vis was better than I’ve seen it lately, the water was still dirty. 

My swim was short lived due to some dodgey goggles that subsequently ended up in the bin, so I enjoyed a solo walk back from Shelly this morning! 

It was lovely to see so many of my mates swimming this morning & to celebrate Tim’s birthday! Happy Birthday Tim! The swim is always better when you’re there ☺️

Pre swim excitement - Dan, Scotty, Lou, Tim, Tammy & Toddy

Pre swim, and half asleep (well, me anyways!) Tammy, me & Lou

 

Post swim - Ronnie, Tim, Jesse, Oli, Dan

Post swim smiles from Alex & MDP 

 

Have a lovely week everyone! Let’s hope the water clears up soon and that my goggles stop leaking 🤪

 

See you tomorrow 

Tilly xx 

 

Monday 20 February - Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Monday all!! 

The water was a lovely 22.9 this morning, however it was a little bumpy & whilst the vis was better than I’ve seen it lately, the water was still dirty. 

My swim was short lived due to some dodgey goggles that subsequently ended up in the bin, so I enjoyed a solo walk back from Shelly this morning! 

It was lovely to see so many of my mates swimming this morning & to celebrate Tim’s birthday! Happy Birthday Tim! The swim is always better when you’re there ☺️

Pre swim excitement - Dan, Scotty, Lou, Tim, Tammy & Toddy

Pre swim, and half asleep (well, me anyways!) Tammy, me & Lou

 

Post swim - Ronnie, Tim, Jesse, Oli, Dan

Post swim smiles from Alex & MDP 

 

Have a lovely week everyone! Let’s hope the water clears up soon and that my goggles stop leaking 🤪

 

See you tomorrow 

Tilly xx 

 

Friday 17th - Beggar on the street of love

Something strange was occurring in the Drinks Express early on Friday morning. The new design budgies were causing some distress, with the Guv complaining of an unusual rash, stories of a missing testicle, and an unnamed sandgroper who has probably eaten a bit much cake over Christmas.

The Guv shared a theory that the issue is a combination of the budgie's ink and Jon's aftershave. Drinks simplifies as he does & recommends he ditch the budgies and just go back to the G String. I'm swimming 7am from now on.

What I want makes me poor

In this great big world of plenty, I'm holding out my cup...only you can fill it up

I had a few stomach problems (storm water) so hence the very delayed Friday post. Carolines Pitch Report as follows:

Surfers stretching, kickboxers taking over the grasss. Rubbish in the bay. Lots of logs rolling around. I was one of the many who swam into one. Gentle chop. 

The Drinks Express Shelly line up

Dancing Dan was asked to unravel Froggie's underpants .. both have very big smiles afterwards....

How good is it to see Sarah from Sales back on our shores. I bumped into her on the beach a couple of days ago & it made my day.  Jon was off to the pool to get faster so she was taking her time. A beautiful wavey swim was reported...

Thanks for the swim & coffee team. Remember don't let your true love run cold!

Back in action tomorrow, antibiotics have kicked in, watch out for a special Birthday Blog

 

Rusty the Fish and Carolinebythebeach

 

 

Pink Glow and Friendly Forester

The swell has decreased, still limited visibility and a few large moon shaped jellies out there.  A beautiful morning and as always a great way to the day.

Have you been to Forster, NSW? I follow 'Did you swim today' on facebook and recently saw a few videos from the Forster turtles and the many grey nurse sharks they swim with.  I asked my two bold and beautiful mates who are always keen for an adventure if they'd like to go up and swim with them.  We headed up the next weekend. The Forster Turtles swim every day at 8am from main beach. They were very friendly and accommodating and although the conditions weren't perfect, they took us out to see the sharks.

We headed out from main beach to the pool from there, some swam left and some swam right to Pebbly beach, and some (us and our escorts) swam to see the grey nurse.

we saw the first grey nurse on the weeds

Just a few meters from the first grey nurse we saw 15-20 on the sand

They were everywhere!

View from the surface of where the grey nurse are...

 

Just after I took the above video a shark swam very close between me and one of the other Bold and Beautiful swimmers. As it swam under me I readied my camera (put back in underwater mode) and started to swim after it, when I heard, '...umm that's not a good one [shark]" (as understated by a Forster Turtle). All swam rather fast back to shore.  My photo isn't very good, but it's pretty clear it wasn't a grey nurse.

It was a nice break and I would definitely swim with the turtles again, even with the 'not a good one' encounter.  However, I am very thankful for where I live and swim, we are so lucky to enjoy CTB!

Have a great day!

 

Wednesday 15th February - Life at dawn and safety first!!!!!

Wednesday 15th February - the day after the carnage & the power of mother nature & Posiedon is still on show. 

At 6am when I arrived for "Dolphins" clubbies board training (not really knowing whether we would be able to actually go in the water given the conditions of the last 2 days!) it was dark, the sky was full of moody clouds, painted shades of pre dawn magical purple with a pop of crimson as the sun attempted to send its warming rays our way...  we could hear the surf, but the breaking waves were blurs of white & grey in the pre dawn.  With safety of each other, care and respect for the ocean and its lessons we waited until light, and ran on the beach until then (the lesser of the two evils!).  

Water temperature: 22.0 degrees

air temperature at 6am: 19.3 degrees

conditions: messy, Gabrielle is not finished with us yet!

 Vibe: cautious, safety first

number of swimmers: low!   

Gabrielle was still making her presence known, although at a lower intensity.  Mindful of yesterdays conditions and near misses, and respecting mother nature (and Gabrielle), Drinks gave the 630 crew a talking to, reminding them of the four key safety messages:

1) the lifeguards are not on duty, so they are not going to rescue you at 6:30 so swim to your ability

2)  if you swim out and feel uncomfortable, you can always swim back to the beach and go to the bower or shelly

3) dont talk anyone into doing something they are uncomfortable with

4) dont be talked into doing something you are uncomfortable with

I encourage you to watch the video Greg Cole and drinks put together - its on the B&B facebook page and contains some VERY important tips and reminders about ocean swimming & safety.  

Chris was the sole manmaid swimming, and made it safely back noting it was hard but not as tough as yesterday

Duncan, Reid, Drinks and Simon (3rd in his age group at the 2km Cole classic!) swam within their ability (which is good!) and after Drinks' safety message this morning.  

Isabel (Zig Zag - I know how she feels!), Nicola, Fiona and Ingrid swam within their abilities, from Manly or shelly as they felt comfortable

 

The General and the Terminator swam from manly - on a pipe-shelly - pipe return - well within their abilities - at 6:13 precisely

Driver, Shanny, Love Songs, the Doctor and Radox also swam within their abilities 

Welcome back lainey who swam from shelly and rescued a number plate covering (WTF?) which doubles as a picture frame? 

Ian (swam out from Manly, in at the bower) & sooo good to see Super - Manmaid David "DC" Collins who is VERY lucky to still be with us after Poseidon sent Gabrielle and Triton to create waves of torment yesterday.   

DC sustained horrific injuries whilst swimming out yesterday, and after hearing his first hand recount today, and that of others who witnessed it, the fact that DC was here today is remarkable & shows how resilient DC is.   After the wonderful TLC at Northern Beaches hospital, DC was discharged and despite everything he went through, still smiling.   We were so pleased to see him back at the beach today for a coffee; beaten and broken in body but not his sense of humour and tenacity.   DC -  the entire swimming community sends you loads of healing energy for a full recovery in mind and body, and hope to see you back in the water soon (until then we will buy you coffees!)!

and finally, canines oblivious to the conditions, waiting for their humans to return for ear rubs!

have a wonderful Wednesday, take care, look out for each other, look after each other, stay safe and follow your gut feel - its OK to feel uncomfortable in the surf and absolutely OK to swim from the bower or shelly if thats what you feel like - showing up is the first step and any infusion of vitamin sea is always going to be  good!

take care,

Jocelyn