Well, another lovely morning down at the swim. 16.7 degrees today in the water, lots of swimmers, a big wobby shark on the point and nice clear conditions.   Poor old Sterls broke his elbow a week ago when he slipped at Shelley Beach boat ramp. He is out of the water for 6 weeks,...

The day started innocently enough with the usual suspects gathering like crows on a branch. Even Sterling made it down with his wing in a sling. Then suddenly, without warning (like suddenly goes) the big stories started breaking. Now I’ll break them to you in the order they unfolded, so you too can experience the...

“It can be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful.” The water today was rough.  The waves were unrelenting (and also full of ocean stuff like seaweed and mystery objects that make me feel ick), but despite the conditions, it was still beautiful and always worth the...

This is Rob, just before 7am. He is all ready to swim and I captured this happy image. I love how we all just enjoy the swim and the community. Rob just sums this up…   The Benchies today. We have a lovely cosy bench where we all meet and exchange our morning pleasantries. I...

Say you saw someone having difficulty this morning. Uncertain, overwhelmed, out of their depth and struggling to stay afloat. What would you do? You’d take action to improve their situation, right? Because that’s what the better part of us does. That better part that’s in everyone. Even you. The hero within that rallies you into...

Spring sprang to life on Sept 1 with a sensational start to the season and then rapidly deteriorated into a cold, dreary wet week. Anyway, this morning looks as though Spring has sprung again as we were greeted with glorious sunshine and perfect conditions.   The only thing more radiant than the sunshine was the...

The longer days and the rain we’ve had over the past few weeks have triggered a burst of spring flower growth, on display in the front gardens of Ashburner Street on the way to the beach. Here are some gorgeous azalea, magnolia and brunfelsia aka yesterday today and tomorrow. The seeds of these trees are...

Blogging for BB is so easy. All the swimmers are bold and/or beautiful or charmingly ridiculous. the waves were quite strong today so I walked to Shelly which is why there are photos of Shelly Beach and swimmers today, for a change. Two thousand for Greg Marinan. Mare is the Italian word for sea so...

Some mornings it can be a tough battle between getting out from under the warm cozy bed sheets and committing to swim at Manly Beach. But then we have lights in our life who make the decision to drag yourself out of bed worthwhile. Fiona is one such person and today she was bright as...

Salps – Life in the fast lane The salps have gone but what are these little critters? The species that we have been swimming with is Thalia democratica, which is found in all the worlds oceans and forms enormous swarms at the sea surface. Salps are planktonic animals which have three different life stages – a...