13/02/14 – Swimming with Friendly Fish!

 How lucky are we to swim across a Marine Reserve? Cabbage Tree Bay is attracting more species of fish, larger numbers and even friendlier fish according to Belinda, the Marine ecologist who spoke to us on Tuesday night at the monthly B&B Bluewater Cafe dinner. I found her talk riveting and it just made me realise once again how special our swim is. Where else in the world can you swim in such a beautiful location, with a group of fun, friendly,like minded people and encounter such marine life? The fish above are called ‘Hardy Heads’!

Over 30 early swimmers set off on the Drinks Express at 6.30am under creamy, cloudy and romantic skies…(Valentine’s Day tomorrow folks!)

Adorable Annie (on right below) is leading a special Valentine’s Day pre-swim Booty Camp at 6am tomorrow. Come along with your pink or red cozzies and red lipstick! At 7am Channel 10 TV cameras will be filming us with red caps on for Red Feb.

Great to have Joey and more Manly Beach Running Club members joining us again! Paige’s Mum reds the blog from the US and will be happy to see her daughter on it (upright and upside down when handstanding below!)

Joey leads a pre-swim handstand warm up. (Joey’s handstand lessons will be every Thursday morning at 6.45am on the beach!)

Little Sarah Abbott is back from another extended stay in Hong Kong! Welcome back LSA and John. If you want to join them for a Boldercrawl (slow Bolderdash) mention it on blog comments. Little Sarah will be clocking up the kms to work her way back up the Pacific Challenge! Isn’t Jane simply amazing, not letting a little injury interfere with her swimming.

Miguel is getting to be a right blog tart 😉 Here he is with his friend Kevin who is swimming with us for the first time.

Cheeky Robert obscures our celebrity swimmer with a rather impressive photo bomb!

Robbie’s back after a bit of surgery, welcome back Bob!

The ocean is flat and calm  and 21.8 degrees again. It is also beautifully clear as we start swimming and  loads of fish swim below us as we swim towards The Point. I get excited thinking there will be loads of marine creatures to see and photograph today. Dusky whalers have been spotted by the early crew too!

Unfortunately it isn’t anywhere near as clear as we turn the corner and there is lots of plankton in the water. Still excited to see a dusky though and to have a good look out on the swim back between the shore and The Point. The sun comes out at Shelly Beach and lights up swimmers…

It’s lovely coming across kids I used to teach swimming with us. I remember Reuben when he moved from Belgium 8 years ago and came to my Year 1 class. Here he is with Dad, Bart.

Spot your butt at Shelly!

 Just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who helped the Bold and Beautiful Swimmers Coastrek team raise $900 for the Fred Hollows Foundtion last Saturday. The cake stall was a rip roaring success and 32 people regained their sight thanks to you. Elizabeth below is also doing Coastrek on Feb 28th.

 Good old Lesbubbles always picks up any plastic she sees and shoves it down her cozzie. She did mention she retrieved another condom today and said, ‘the worst part is I had to touch the ‘business’ end of the condom!! Arghh!!! So I could stuff it in my stinger suit 🙁 (she deserves a special badge!!!)

One of the things we love about the B&B swim is the chance to sing Happy Birthday to swimmers. JK tells us there has been a complaint from  some affluent Bower Street residents about us being too noisy and suggests we sing even louder! Please mention it if it is your birthday so we can help you start your day off in the best possible way!

Happy Birthday Scotty!

 It’s a fantastic swim back with stops to see yellow stripey fish, eagle rays, yellowtail…

A look back at our gorgeous Shelly…

And only a couple of hundred metres from shore Jane and I marvel at the friendly fish below us…Like this Spangled Emperor swimming amongst the green gropers and luderick.

Love the colours of this huge goat fish! He was really pink!

See how this catfish looks like the seaweed. He was in thigh deep water!

These black fish were in knee deep water!

Jane noticed some fish we don’t usually see amongst the black fish. It’s great having a Marine Expert swimming with us who helps us identify the fish and look at them closer. They are here below and she will get Mark from OZmus to tell us their name.

The leatherjacket are taking a while to get friendlier. Look at the colours on this one even though it camouflages so well in the rocks.

Does anyone think the groper are getting friendlier?

Had to post a photo of this beautiful wobbegong I saw earlier in the week. He blends in with the rocks so well.

Finishing off with a great photo of some of the ladies who have been swimming the longest with the B&B in Mong Kok!

Bottom of blog

Latest news on the RedFeb is that it is all go for this Friday!  The photographer and caps will be with us for the 7am swim, so if you can make it, be ready for what we do best – after swimming, socialising and taking breakfast that is – being photographed. 

February is Heart Research Month, and we’re raising $1 for every kilometre we swim during the month.  

We need to start kicking this along!  The swimming is going ok, but a little more for the $$$$ would be great. Here’s the update…

https://redfebrelay.everydayhero.com/au/bold-beautiful-swim-squad-manly

B&B i-Log

Almost 50% of swimmers are now using the B&B i-Log. Log your swim ANYTIME of day using this really efficient and 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.

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 proposed date for the next 10km swim is this Saturday, 15 February depending on conditions.   (This date will depend on final confirmation of local surf carnivals so keep checking the blog for updates).

Bolderdash during summertime

This daily swim to Queenscliff and back DEPARTS the surf club at 5.50am.  As these are generally intimate groups, please WAIT for everyone in the water before heading off.  Do buddy up with someone – great to be with someone who has the same pace – that way everyone is ‘accounted for’ at Queenscliff.

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.

STATS

141 Swimmers, 6 Bolderdashers and 8 newbies!

water temp: 21.8 Degrees!