Rougher and more exciting conditions today! Over 100 of us Pink Cappers enjoyed bumpy swimming in the rain!
Nan, on the right reached her 1000 kms swim at the weekend. It was Midge’s (in the middle) birthday yesterday. These lovely ladies swim at 6.30am most mornings rain, hail or shine!
Dave and a few other swimmers helped Kelly (aka Bridget) Jones, move house today before their swim. Well done guys!
And this clever chap swam his 2000’th km on Monday. John Forster, what an achievement!!!
Here’s John with our lovely Marine Expert Jane, probably going for her 6th or 7th www (Winter without wetsuit) badge with the B&B!
Too much neoprene! Wait until John Kelly comes back, he won’t be happy!
Great to see Anne Edwards back after her travels through Peru. She does such a lot behind the scenes of the B&B. (Alice on the right is very helpful too. She carries spare undies to help out swimmers who have forgotten theirs and have to dash to work 😉 )
Alex, 2nd on the left is today’s ‘Catch of the Day’ 😉
Wendy, Dorset and Lar trying to catch a wave in.
Little Bo Lou has lost a flipper. If anyone finds it please return!
It’s lovely squeezing around the heater at Bluewater after Winter swims. Come and join us!
Below is my preloaded blog. (That’s how I’ve got it out so early.)
I’ve always loved the feeling of being immersed in water, defying gravity, feeling weightless and revelling in moving freely in water… I’d swim anywhere given half a chance, but the only place to swim when I was growing up, (apart from occasionally on holidays in the glorious freezing Irish Sea) was the local ‘Baths’ as we called it. ‘Burntwood Baths’ was a public swimming pool in my home town 17 miles North of Birmingham, England. It was small, overcrowded and heavily chlorinated but I loved it and walked a few kms to get to it 4 x a week. The treat on the walk home was stopping off at the fish and chip shop to get a newspaper cone of ‘Batter Bits’ for 1 and a 1/2 pence. (Mum didn’t give me enough money for chips!) That’s me in the middle in the black cozzie!
How things have changed! Now I swim with you guys 5 or 6 times a week ‘in the wild’. No black line, no chlorine or concrete… The ocean at our end of Manly Beach is wonderful… salty, clear and invigorating! Usually quite calm but often wild,wavy and exciting! As we swim we can look up and see that open, dramatic Australian sky, around us are friendly folk in pink caps and when we look below the mesmerising marine life meets the eye! I LOVE our swims!
Anyway enough of me.
Some of the amazing sea creatures I’ve captured on camera since my last blog.
Diamond fish in between a rocky crevasse…
Giant Cuttlefish
Wobbegong
A Rough Leatherjacket
Crimson Banded Wrasse
Fiddler Ray
Sergeant Baker
Old Wives with Diamond fish photobomb
Stripey
And some of the wonderful underwater humans. Guess who they are and answer in blog comments!
Lastly here are the flowers that we sent to Ed Selby who is recovering from his op in hospital. Thanks Peta for organising!
Thank you all for reading my blog and swimming with us. What a great bunch of people you all are. As Ian aka Shelly put it on blog comments last night if you didn’t read it…
‘B&B has given so much to people that words can’t express. Such a unique collection of quirky kind souls. It happens almost every day from Sparkles’s jacket to Ed’s flowers and well wishes.’
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. Also, if you have a bit more experience, keep an eye out for new swimmers who might need company. Do read these excellent tips on staying safe in the surf. To read, or even download, click here.
The Stats
Regulars:104
Newbies: Don’t think so
Temp: 19.1
Sunrise: 6.57am
Sunset: 4.52pm
Signing off Lainey Loo with Julie Isbill
15 comments
Shelley K
17/06/2015 at 10:12 am
Never enough of you LL! Thanks for sharing.
Jenny :)
17/06/2015 at 10:20 am
Lovely blog Elaine, enjoyed reading about your child hood memories swimming and the battered bits. Marine pics are amazing. People are amazing at b&b, I had a bad sting across my face this morning & blue water were quick with the ice pace and Gayle pulled out some “ouch” natural sting relief. Both of those and some anti-histamine tablets are helping to take away the pain. Thanks Guys xx
Snorkles
17/06/2015 at 11:32 am
Great blog Elaine! Hoping the bumpy-ness does one before my Friday swim!
Alex as catch of the day – heee heee!
Rob
17/06/2015 at 12:22 pm
lovely blog Elaine. thanks
LSA aka HKTQ
17/06/2015 at 12:24 pm
Love the first pic and the rest of the blog, especially the flowers for Ed and your old pic and story, LL:-) Sorry not to see you at Shelly – blame Shaun’s shoulder and other excuses:-))
It was so fast coming back through the waves with the rip near the rocks….fun if not jimbled or caught in the washing machine!
JeffwithaJ And a Yellowtail
17/06/2015 at 12:53 pm
What a great blog Elaine! Thanks and congrats.
Lainey aka E-laine
17/06/2015 at 1:27 pm
Thanks for your comments guys. It is nice for bloggers to get feedback. Nobody has guessed the underwater swimmers yet. Who do you think is kicking the cuttlefish? 😉
Robert Grozier
17/06/2015 at 1:49 pm
Congratulations John on your 2000kms. A remarkable effort. Over the same period I have not reached 400kms. (inquiry pending!!) Talk about being left behind. It is a pleasure swimming with you and keep up the good work. RG
Elizabeth X
17/06/2015 at 2:40 pm
Sorry Lainey I have no idea who any of those u/water swimmers are. Thanks for putting the pic of Eds flowers in. The incorporation of the pink caps in to the arrangement is a masterstroke. I hope he liked them, well done Peta.
Lesley
17/06/2015 at 3:13 pm
4th pic down in blue boyleg trunks and black rashy is that weird girl from Kazakhstan
that swam a few times last year . She was always trying to get on the blog and did stupid faces in every photo (like this one)…
Love your Burntwood baths story and pic Lainey Loo
Shelly
17/06/2015 at 3:38 pm
Lovely blog Lainey, two blogs in one.
swimmers are Katrina & her daughter + friend
Lips not wearing goggles.
That gorgeous Ian McK below lips & top diver photo
not sure who looks to be kicking a cuttlefish.
lovely photo of Ed’s flower arrangement, well done Peta !
Love you all
Shelly
xoxoxo
Jane
17/06/2015 at 5:39 pm
Well spotted Shelly, you were clever to recognise the “gorgeous” Ian in the mystery photos. He’s quite a hunk, isn’t he?
Jane
17/06/2015 at 5:42 pm
Such a lovely blog Lainey-Loo. Your fish pics were spot on; you’re one of our expert paparazzi AND ID detectives. But you got one thing wrong: you didn’t walk a few kms to get to Burntwood Baths – you walked a few MILES – much further!
Jane
17/06/2015 at 5:59 pm
And I just LOVE the old photo of the swimming group. And did you win any free passes to the baths? Just shows how young you are Lainey – I had 2 children by 1970.
Shelly
17/06/2015 at 6:28 pm
Spotted him a mile off Jane, yes he is quite cute ! just imagine if he lost a bit of weight… Wow !
Love you all
Shelly
xoxoxo