With a colourful sky and 18 degrees in the water, these 6:30 swimmers were ready to go. There were reports of jimbles and this blogger and 3 of 4 of who she swam with, were lightly stung.  Perhaps try swimming north and complete a stinger special to count towards your winter badge!

Last week I was in Exmouth, WA with 3 other Bold and Beautiful swimmers to swim with the largest fish in the world – the whale shark.  You can predictively find and swim with whale sharks in Exmouth from March – August.  It was an amazing experience – swimming so close to  the gentle giants. Also near Exmouth is the Ningaloo reef, where you can swim out 50-100 metres from the shore and enjoy beautiful corals and abundant aquatic life – in 24 degree water!  I highly recommend it, below are a few photos from the trip.

Bold and Beautiful on tour – ready to swim with a whale shark.

A very large grouper – was close to 2 metres

these beautiful rays were everywhere!

white tipped reef shark

we saw multiple Octopus and set up the go-pro to record him when and he crawled out and latched on to it.

a lot of turtle time – spent over 30 min with one in the shallows

First time seeing a sea snake!

If you are interested in going to Exmouth and would like some tips – happy to discuss. Hope everyone has a great day!

Alana

B&B monthly dinner – 8^th June 2021

The next B&B monthly dinner for the year will be held on Tuesday 8th June at 6.30 pm at Bluewater Restaurant. To celebrate World Oceans Day, this month’s speaker is Robert Olive, co-ordinator and a senior turtle carer from the Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) organisation, whose volunteers have been rescuing seabirds and sea turtles along the NSW coastline for over 25 years. Robert will talk about the amazing work they do and specifically about the rescue, rehabilitation and release of two green sea turtles, Billie and Ella in Cabbage Tree Bay.

There will be the opportunity to sign up to a Volunteers First Responders Training Course to be held on 26 June in Manly to learn about the capture, handling and first aid of seabirds, turtles and other coastal wildlife. Dinner attendees will also have an opportunity to help fund this important work. On the night, Bommie Australia, a Manly conscious clothing & beachwear brand, will donate 50% of all sales of their ocean inspired swim goggle bag range and beach accessories to ASR.

The cost of the dinner is great value at only $30 a head, which includes shared entrees, and a selection of mains to choose from (including a vegetarian option). Glasses of beer or wine and desserts are also available at the special price of only $5 each (please note, NO BYO). Bookings are essential, so to avoid disappointment and secure your spot please book at www.boldandbeautifulmanly.com.au/bb-bluewater-monthly-dinner.html

Winter Swimming

While we had hoped that the B&B could resume its normal activities by now, we are still bound by Covid 19 restrictions with which we would be unable to fully comply. So, for the near future, B&B’s operations will continue to be suspended. This does not mean you need to stop swimming. As an encouragement to swim, B&B will offer its usual badges over the winter swimming season. To qualify for a highly prized winter badge, you need to:

• swim from Manly to Shelly and return (or halfway swim) a minimum of 20 times between 1st June and 31st August.
• swim in at least 7 different weeks during the same period.
• log your swims.

If you manage to do all of your qualifying swims without a wetsuit (or other thermal enhancing equipment), you will also qualify for the coveted WWW badge (winter without wetsuit).

Since we no longer have restrictions on movement within the community, the Covid swim will no longer be a swim option and all swims must be at Manly. Should there be any restrictions imposed during the Winter period, The Covid Swim will return as an option.