So you have just arrived for a holiday in the Emerald City. You’ve come from Kooyong, Hong Kong, Rio,
Berlin, Cape Town, Gothenberg, Stockholm, Keelesville, Birmingham, Dublin, Cambridge, Dereham, Fremantle or
Witchita Falls, Texas.
You want to know how to get to Sydney’s number one place to be, Bold and Beautiful Manly, at 7am everyday.
From the icon that is the Sydney Opera House head to Circular Quay:
and catch the:
Up the Emerald Harbour
To Manly Cove. Then walk up the Corso to the two kilometer cresent of golden sand, that is Manly Beach.
Head for Manly Surf Club to do the Classic 7am 1.5km return swim to the Beautiful
Shelly beach (bottom left corner of the picture below).
The jewels in the crown include the journey to Manly, the glorious swim, the swimmers, the sea life, the apres swim coffee and
fantastic comeraderie that exits among this all inclusive community of Swimmers.
The following shots will give you just a glimpse of the treasure that is Bold and Beautiful Manly!!!!!
1st Wave of the 6.30 Dry Express (Drinky had the day off)
The Dry Express taking off from the point
Swimmers Helen, Paula & Tamsin checking out the conditions ahead of their 7am swim
Only one Dry Swimmmer reached Shelly today because we had a Dolphin in the Bay!!!
Can you spot the dorsal fin?
This is what you’ll see at 6.56am so if it is your first swim, please come before 6.45am
Claire and Sabine are preparing for the 20km Rottnest Island swim next month
When she is not swimming Retha is lucky enough to work at Opera Quays
Josh (Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) & his wife Amie (Melbourne Lawyer) extended their holiday just to swim with us.
Micheal (Sydney Lawyer) uses B&B as part of his 27kms of swimming each week in preparation for an English Channel swim in July
Swedish/Australian Champion Swimmers Sarah (from Gothenberg) and Malin (from Stockholm)
Long time fatherly Manly local Derek has South African roots
The Apres Swim
Can you pick the grandfather, the lawyer, member from Kooyong, minister for the 2000 Olympics, Trade Commissioner to Mexico, Baptist Pastor (one of our fastest swimmers), Peter Anthony (not sure if he has a life other than swimming at Manly) and the legend that is Drinky.
Yesterdays 7am 6kmers which included the youngest swimmer to do the 6km, Teagan Myerscough. (I was her Year 1 teacher at Manly West) and probably the oldest 6km swimmer the ever inspiring Jane Stevenson. Also amazing Elizabeth who did her 6 km last week too. Lyndalll, Gail and Ian all first time 6kmers – thanks Elaine.
Legends – Anne & John
The twins
Now for some of the beauty of Manly that is beneath the waves, thanks to the fantastic free dive photography by Mauricio (Sydney Architect via Rio & Barcelona).
Wobbegong Shark – swimming and yawning
Blue Grouper
Beautiful sea snail
Majestic Old Wives
The other features on our website add sparkle to the B&B treasure so check it all out. e.g. the Cambridge Bumps from yesterday featured the following….
Biggest Mover yesterday -Teagan Myerscough Up 24 places
STATS:
Water Temp: 22.2 C
Total number of swimmers: 316+
Newbies: quite a few
Tomorrow’s Tides –
Low : 5:45am 0.4 m
High: 12:07pm 1.9 m
Tomorrow – Sunrise: 5.51am Sunset: 8.09pm
Have a great week ahead
Simon (part time blogger and Pa to the very cool Leila & Max and new grand daughter born yesterday – more details Tuesdays blog)
JUST IN!!Pics from Elaine of the lone dolphin at Shelly Beach.
Pics from Nick of the Friendly Resident Dolphin that visited us this morning – it swam to Shelly and back with us!
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Caps
We are very low in pink caps so some serious recycling needs to be done! All those swimmers who swim regularly who have 2 or more caps at home can you please bring the extra ones to us to re-use! Apart from the environmental reasons we are actually running out (till the new stock arrives)
THANKS!
SHARKS
As much as we wouldn’t want to come face to face with a shark in the ocean I am sure we all KNOW that part of swimming in the ocean is that ‘risk’… HOWEVER I for one LOVE that the sharks are there BUT apparently:
Premier Colin Barnett has announced a policy to kill endangered White sharks in the hope this will reduce the incidence of shark attack on WA beaches.
So please use this online form HERE to send Premier Barnett a message telling him that shark killing does not have your support. (or copy and paste this link http://ccwa.org.au/action/no-shark-cull-wa)
B&B Attendance Login
Come on folks – this is the most efficient way to capture your swims. It’s a smart phone friendly website so no need to download, just mark it as a bookmark. There are so many good reasons to use the B&B Login – like no queues, no need for glasses to find your name, and never missing the 7am call.
Log your swim between 5am and 9am for the easy way to ensure your swim is recorded in the daily attendance and on the Pacific Challenge. To get started, send an email to Ian Forster (ugoboyo@gmail.com). He will check that your email address is activated on the attendance register then send you info on how to get started. Happy clicking.
Summer badge swims
Every Saturday during summer there will be a 6km swim – usual route is to Freshwater and back; then once a month there is a 10km swim – this is to South Curl Curl and back. However, the final route depends on conditions that day so it is a good idea to arrive a little early to have a briefing from the designated swim leader. Both swims kick off at 7am.
The next 10km swim is scheduled for 11 January depending on conditions.
2014 B&B Calendar ON SALE NOW!!
Get one for yourself or pin it up at work. Give one to friends or send them overseas to the family back home. Only $15! BUY YOURS HERE NOW
Staying safe
Remember that there are no badges for scaring yourself silly! While it is great to extend your boundaries, it is important to know your limits. Do read these excellent tips on staying safe in the surf. To read, or even download, click here
23 comments
Brucy
05/01/2014 at 10:51 am
Congratulations on being a grandfather again, Simon!! When is she coming for a swim?
Jane
05/01/2014 at 11:50 am
Re killing sharks – I suppose we should kill off all the lions and tigers in case they harm people roaming in Africa and Asia. That would be logical, wouldn’t it?
Elaine de Jager
05/01/2014 at 11:53 am
What a fantastic blog Simon. I totally agree if you have caught the ferry from Sydney to Manly and had a B&B swim you could die happy knowing you have experienced something truly special. Even more so if you …frolicked with a dolphin for over an hour like I did today with Sarah, Michael, Mauricio and a few other swimmers. after going a swim to Halfway with some friends and son we walked to Shelly and saw the lone dolphin swimming in the middle of a lot of you, back to Manly. He seemed to be by the side of Mark’s lovely Laura and Jas on their boards. I swm as fast as I could and at The Point met up with a few of you B&B swimmers with him. He played around with us a while and a few of us followed him to Shelly. At Shelly he was really ready to play and just stayed around us for ages, seeming to want us to interact with him. Mauricio lay on the ocean floor and the dolphin came up to him, nuzzling him etc. It was amazing to watch. At one point he came up between one girl’s legs and she had a mini ride on his back. He loved it! I am so happy and have got great photos!!!(some are on Facebook and I’ll send them to Lesley)
Lips
05/01/2014 at 12:03 pm
‘At one point he came up between one girl’s legs and she had a mini ride on his back. He loved it!’
Wow, Mauricio is turning into a bit of a dark horse lately!
Great blog Simon! And what a morning!! That dolphin playing with us was the most amazing experience I ever had with BnB. (yes, I miss THE whale swim.. get over it!)
Hope we get some of Nick’s and Elaine’s photos up on the blog later!
Robster the former blogster
05/01/2014 at 12:06 pm
Awesome blog!
Teagan
05/01/2014 at 12:44 pm
Aewsome blog Simon. The dolphin was AMAZING!!!!!!!¡
Great photo of the wobbegong with its mouth open.
John
05/01/2014 at 12:59 pm
A top day for the swim greatly enhanced by observing the lone dolphin swimming just below us at Shelly and at the point on the way back.
Great pics of the dolphin,Nick. Glad they were put on the blog.
Jane
05/01/2014 at 1:33 pm
The beautiful green fish in the last of Mauricio’s great pics is a Senator Wrasse (Pictilabrus laticlavius).
Anna McC
05/01/2014 at 1:42 pm
The dolphin was still frolicking at Shelly at 1130am or so, surrounded by 25 or so humans with snorkels and boards. I presume he/she could leave when it had had enough contact…
Mark
05/01/2014 at 1:57 pm
What a epic day for a dolphin !!!!!
What a privilege to swim with the newest member of the B&B ” DAPHNE” the gorgeous intelligent dolphin !!!!!!!
Laura & jazzy
John
05/01/2014 at 2:23 pm
Awesome pics of the dolphin from Elaine.
Lainey-Loo aka Elaine
05/01/2014 at 2:49 pm
From where I was watching he really wanted to hang out with Laura and Jas on the way back To Manly (who wouldn’t?) It was amazing!
Lainey-Loo aka Elaine
05/01/2014 at 2:50 pm
Thanks John, for once I think mine were as good as Nick’s. The water at Shelly was a bit clearer in patches and the sun came out so the light was good.
mauricio
05/01/2014 at 3:38 pm
Simon, Congratulations on the arrival of your granddaughter. What a fantastic blog! How lucky were we today, it was the most incredible experience ever. I think we can all go to bed happy today hoping our friend comes back for another play-date sometime soon.
Alyson
05/01/2014 at 4:01 pm
agreed. that said, some would think a few politicians are quite harmful to our health, so while they are at it…… ;)I couldn’t get the link to work in firefox or chrome??
LSA aka HKTQ
05/01/2014 at 4:33 pm
Great blog and how very fortunate Lainey & Nick had cameras with them to take those beautiful shots! So fortunate it was a Sunday when so many could enjoy the special play-date! Lainey, great that you had Charlie with you and the twins and all the other kids like Lips too:-)) Thx for the lovely summaries. That pic of the dolphin nibbling Mauricio’s hand is incredible! Blogtart of the year – the dolphin!
Word will get around very fast…. if tomorrow were a Sunday, I’d say there’d be 500, as it’s a Monday, let me guess 350. Any other guesses?
Fifi
05/01/2014 at 5:25 pm
Simon,
what a fantastic blog..i just LOVE how you just describe yourself as a “grandfather” when you are so many awesome things: Professor of Nuclear medicine, Waikiki Roughwater Swim champion, one of the fastest swimmers in the B and B but can manage to swim at anyone else’s speed at any time, fab blogger and just all round awesome person.
I have just had the BEST day today, I decided to do a warm up swim at 6.30 and ended up patting that gorgeous dolphin. It was very quiet on the 6.30 Dry Express and you could hear the dolphin chattering and whistling. She was upturning seaweed to flush out fish and eating them, a strategy she may have developed since she has no pod to round up shoals of fish. (which is kind of heartbreaking).
I thought it was extraordinary how readily she took off with the group today, swimming along naturally like she belonged there. But then she would roll over and hover beneath you for a scratch.
That was possibly as good as being poked in the face by a whale tail. Just awesome.
Sue Williams
05/01/2014 at 5:44 pm
Awesome! My family and I have just returned to France after our biennial holiday in Manly, where I finally got to join the 7 am swim and earn my pink cap. But today’s blog makes me realise we came back waaayyyy too early! Can’t wait for the next trip out to get back into the water with you all…
mauricio
05/01/2014 at 7:09 pm
I just uploaded a video of the dolphin, here is the link:
http://youtu.be/LlzT9PI1GWo
Brian P
05/01/2014 at 10:34 pm
an awesome video Mauricio and great pictures all round and blog Simon.
LSA aka HKTQ
05/01/2014 at 10:55 pm
A very touching and beautiful video. Fascinating too. Thx for sharing, Mauricio! xx
karen johnson
06/01/2014 at 6:28 am
http://www.marinemammalresearch.com/solitary_dolphin1.html
Simon Cowell
06/01/2014 at 2:52 pm
Thanks Mauricio
How good was that experience? I have shared your video far and wide.
See you in the morning, Im blogging again so any other photos / videos from today or tomorrow would be great.
Thanks Simon