Finally! Freshwater ocean baths!

Six years since I first attempted to swim here (and seven years after starting this ridiculous swim safari), I finally swam at Freshwater ocean pool. In April 2010, as I swam up the Northern Beaches via their rock pools and tidal baths, Freshwater pool was closed for cleaning. In 2012, the pool was closed for renovations. Ten months ago, it was again closed for cleaning when I came to swim. But today...........

Of course I swam my mandatory one length in the overall direction of the south to north swim. But I was so pleased that I carried on to do many more lazy lengths. The seawater temperature is still about 23° Celsius.

Foiled Again

Freshwater Sea Baths on Sydney's Northern Beaches was the one remaining pool of my original swimming jaunt that I had yet to swim in (I'm discounting those that were completely closed and drained, and Coogee Ladies Baths). I hadn't been able to come up to Freshwater until today, so I had my bathers and towel ready for the winter dip that would complete my suite of sea pools and tidal baths. And, after all that..............

Pool closed for cleaning! The same thing that happened to me way back in April 2010 (can it really be over five years since I was on the Northern Beaches?).

Council had just started to pump the seawater back into the pool.

A similar story in April 2010.

A Short Swim Around Coogee Bay

I enjoyed last week's Dawny to Cockatoo Island swim so much that I decided to have a go at the 1 kilometre swim around Coogee Bay, an event which is hosted by the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club (http://coogeesurfclub.com.au/club/). There is a total of three swims in the event: an 800 metres dash for the juniors (11 to 13 years), the 1km course inside the bay and a 2.4 km swim out of the bay and around Wedding Cake Island.

Before the majority of entrants arrived. The line of breakers in the distance is Wedding Cake Island.

The swim around the island is, by all accounts, one of the most amazing swims along the Sydney coast, with submarine views of large boulders on the shoreward side and reefs of rock, seaweed and marine life on the open ocean side - all seen through clear blue water.

The registration process: entrants registered by age group and distance.

There is no way that I could manage the 2.4 kms out to the island, let alone navigate the currents behind the island and make it back to shore, so it was the 1km swim for me. 

The first buoy has already been placed in the water.

The day was gorgeous, warm and sunny after a week of rain and surprisingly cold temperatures. It's a popular swim, and there were lots of entrants in many age categories. The junior dash was first, then the 1km swim went off in two waves, the younger age groups first.  I was, of course, in the second wave. Altogether there were 427 people in the 1km swim, and, amazingly (unless I've misunderstood something) almost one thousand in the swim around the island (some people doubled-up by swimming in both).

A glorious day at Coogee Beach

The water temperature was 18°C, and there was a very high tide. Swimming out into the bay, I could notice the difference between this week's swim in the swell and the chop and last week's swim in the calm, flat waters of Sydney Harbour. I set off from the beach using a front crawl stroke, but several times reverted to breaststroke to catch my breath and give my shoulders a rest. One or two people were doing backstroke or sidestroke at various times. 

Last week I swam the 1.1km in 21 minutes, and felt fine afterwards. This week the 1km swim took me 33 minutes 16 seconds, and I had to have a sit in the sun for several minutes after finishing. Later in the day I had sore legs and shoulders. A reminder that the open ocean takes a bit more effort than the ocean rock pool or tidal baths. 

Later I walked up onto the cliffs to watch the real swimmers rounding the island.

Looking from the cliffs to Wedding Cake Island (barely visible in the very high tide). 

It's impossible to see the swimmers in this photo, but they were somewhere out the back when it was taken.

A Rainy Day At Bondi Beach

I had to go over to Bondi Beach on Saturday for work. I was looking forward to getting there early, and going for a swim. I'd already had a swim at Coogee since getting back from San Francisco, so I knew that the water was lovely and clear. The weather had been sunny and dry, if a bit cool, so I imagined a glorious morning of swimming.

But when I woke up on Saturday, it was cold and drizzling. By the time I got off the bus at the beach, it was a dreadful day. It was raining heavily, and there were banks of black clouds hanging over the ocean.

I really didn't fancy swimming from the beach, and leaving my clothes on the wet sand in the rain, so I headed for Bondi Baths. There were a few swimmers already there, but plenty of room to swim plenty of laps in the 50 metre pool. The water is currently nineteen degrees.

Bondi Baths (also known as Bondi Icebergs after its famous winter swimming club) has a concrete saltwater  pool, hot showers and a sauna. There is a clubhouse and a restaurant, both of which were rebuilt almost ten years ago. It's a great place for a swim, but I rarely go there, preferring Wylies with its rocky bottom and sea life. I've only been there twice in the last couple of years, and, before that, not since the 1980s. Still, Saturday's swim was pretty wonderful.

Lord Howe Island

Lagoon Beach

I've recently spent a week out in the South Pacific on Lord Howe Island. It's about 600 km off the mid-north coast of New South Wales, and has the most southerly coral reef in the world. This world-heritage area has a relatively shallow lagoon with several beaches, and also has ocean beaches on the opposite coast. Plenty of swimming spots to choose from.

Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird seen across the lagoon

The water is incredibly clear. There 90 species of coral and 500 species of fish from both the tropics and the temperate regions. 

Beach at Lovers Bay

It was lots of fun to swim, with mask and snorkel, from beaches along the lagoon, out to reefs of gorgeous coral and algae. At each reef, there were many colourful fish, both large and small. It was easy to spot parrotfish, angel fish, anemone fish and so many more. Off Lovers Bay, I swam next to a large turtle. 

View across the lagoon to North Bay

From North Bay, I swam out to and old wreck that was filled with shoals of catfish and butterfly fish.

Sunrise at Neds Beach

At Neds Beach, on the ocean coast, the reefs are very close to the shore. There's a sand channel that can be followed out to deeper water. I saw turtles here too, and also swam with three (small) Galapagos Sharks nearly every morning.

Coogee At Sunrise

It's been very hot indeed for the past month in Sydney. Not only have the daytime temperatures been in the thirties (and occasionally the low forties), but the nighttime temperatures have been in the low to mid twenties. After yet one more hot and humid night, I decided I'd had enough, and, rather than wait for daylight, I set off for the beach in the wee dark hours. I got to Coogee sometime around six, and sat up on the cliff to watch the first light come. As the light grew stronger, I walked down to the beach to watch the sun rise from the Pacific.

At the pool below the Surf Lifesavers Club

There were already several people on the sand. Some were meditating, some were swimming, some were paddling surf skis, some were jogging and some were photographing the dawn with huge cameras and tripods. My cheap Tescos camera couldn't compete with that, but I took a couple of snapshots anyway.

Sitting on the cool sand watching the sun rising

I sat for a good while, accompanied by seagulls and seaweed, at the edge of the beach where the waves were breaking. The sand was cool and the breeze from the water was also cool, so I forgot about the heat, and just watched the sun slowly rise.

Walking to Giles Baths for a swim

As the sun got higher in the morning sky, I set off for a swim. It's been quite some time since I swam in the rock pool below the old Giles Baths, so I headed over there. It was still not really light, and it was a lot of fun jumping off the rocks into the dark water. Surf was gushing over the rocks, and I loved being washed around by the foam. I swam up and down the pool until it was light, then walked slowly back along the beach.

A Christmas Day Swim

I went for a swim on Christmas morning on a gorgeous, warm, Sydney summer's day. I had hoped to have a long, cool swim at Wylies, then drink mugs of tea and eat tofurkey sandwiches. But the sea was too wild and choppy to spend any time in the pool. Instead I went down to Coogee Beach and swam in the ocean, and then swam lengths in the little ocean pool below the Surf Life Savers Club. The water has really warmed up again. It must be about 19 or 20 degrees Celsius by now.

Coogee Beach

The 'Ross Jones Memorial' Pool

One That I Missed

A year ago, on the day I set out on my swimming lark, I missed a small rock pool at Maroubra. Actually, there are two pools built from two semi-circles of rocks. They were constructed, on the south end of Maroubra Beach, to provide a safe swimming spot for young children when surf conditions were dangerous.

The pools are shallow at the best of times, but on the day I came back to swim them, it was right on low tide. 

I paddled across the smaller of the two pools, but there was just enough seawater at the far end of this pool for me to swim a bit of breaststroke and to float on my back. 

I'd "swum" another rock pool on my coastal trek, but hadn't actually had a decent swim yet. So, into the ocean I went, to bodysurf a couple of the small waves (I even got dumped by one).

Swimming Along (Most Of) The Northern Beaches

 The Northern Beaches are on the section of Sydney's coast that stretches from the entrance to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to the entrance to Broken Bay. Many of the beaches are famous for their surf and surfers, but today the waves were rather small and gentle.

It has been one year exactly since I set out to swim the Sydney coastline via the ocean pools and tidal baths. I decided to celebrate the anniversary by swimming some of the pools I previously said I was going to leave until next summer. It was a sunny, warm Autumn day, and the sea temperature was still 23 degrees, so I reckonned I'd be able to swim several without getting cold.

Although I have swum from several of the beaches along this part of the coast, I have never swum in any of the rock pools.


Fairy Bower Rock Pool

I started the day back in Manly, but this time on the ocean side rather than the harbour side. The first pool I swam was this small but pretty rock pool in Cabbage Tree Bay. It's famous for the sculpture of sea nymphs, 'The Oceanides', by Helen Leete.

The sea was absolutely wonderful: clean, clear, warm and salty. 

Queenscliff Pool

I was interested to find that this seawater pool is a 50 metre marked lap pool cut into the rock platform and formed with concrete sides and floor. I swam several lengths of front crawl, really enjoying myself.

Freshwater Pool

Again, this is a concrete 50 metre seawater lap pool (eight lanes, no less).  Unfortunately, it was closed, emptied for cleaning. Which means that I will need to return at some date to swim the pool. 

Curl Curl Pool

Curl Curl Pool is unusual in that it has a pool within a pool (plus a kids' paddling pool). Apparently, a second pool was built just outside the original rock pool. Then this pool was shortened to 50 metres, leaving a redundant basin beyond the main swimming pool.

North Curl Curl Rock Pool

It's a bit of a walk from the north end of Curl Curl Beach to reach this rock pool. You either hike over the headland and descend by steps to the pool, or, at low tide, you can walk around the rocks.  The baths are cut into a large rock platform, and the rocks themselves define one side of the pool. 

Dee Why Rock Pool

This is another concrete 50 metre seawater pool. It has a small paddling pool at one end. The water was so lovely that I found it impossible to limit myself to one length, even though I knew I was running out of time to complete this leg.

Collaroy Rock Pool

Another 50 metre lap pool with a small paddling pool, but Collaroy has a slightly irregular shape where it follows the sandstone cliff line. Again, I couldn't just swim one lap. It was just too good. I was probably getting quite a bit of exercise as these northern rock pools are mostly larger than the southern pools that I'm used to.

North Narrabeen Rock Pool

This is a huge ocean baths. I'm pretty sure that it's the largest of the ocean pools (rather than harbour or river inlet tidal enclosures) that I have swum in. The old boardwalk forms one side of a 50 metre lap pool that itself is within a much larger outer rock pool. There's even a big paddling pool.

Mona Vale Rock Pool

This is a smaller rock pool which is cut into a rock shelf emerging from the beach itself, rather than at the base of a headland or cliffs as is usually the case. The sun was starting to get low in the west as I swam here (daylight saving is finished), and I decided that I would only swim one more pool today.

Newport Rock Pool

This is the rock pool where Max Dupain took the photograph of young men swimming and sunbathing in the early 1950s ('At Newport') that became the iconic image of Australian beach culture. There's a reproduction of the image at:
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=115709&PICTAUS=TRUE

It was starting to get late by the time I'd swum the Newport rock pool, and I had a long way to go back to Marrickville. I still had four rock pools on the Northern Beaches left to swim, and also four tidal baths in Pittwater (an arm of Broken Bay at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River). This should be an easy swim next time as the peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and Pittwater is quite narrow from this point north, making all these pools close together. That day, however, really will have to be next summer or autumn.

Swimming My Way Around North Harbour

North Harbour is one of the three arms of Port Jackson. The other two are Middle Harbour and Sydney Harbour (although many people, myself included, commonly use Sydney Harbour to refer to Port Jackson).  North Harbour is the least extensive of the three arms, being more of a large bay than an arm as such.

 Forty Baskets Beach Pool 

One of the many pools and beaches to be found along the Manly Scenic Walkway. Today is the first time that I have ever swum here.

Another welcome swim in the warm Autumn sun.

Fairlight Beach Pool

This is a gorgeous little pool on a pretty little harbour beach. Notice the view out to Sydney Heads and beyond to the Pacific Ocean.

It's been many years since I last swam here. I'd forgotten just how good this pool is. I spent quite a bit of time in the water here today.

Above Fairlight Pool looking back towards Forty Baskets Beach.

Manly Cove Swimming Enclosure

Arriving at Manly Cove after walking from Fairlight Beach. The ferry back to Sydney is tied up at the wharf. It's difficult to see in my photo but the swimming enclosure takes up most of the beach. The building on the left is part of the Oceanworld aquarium. 

In the 1940s they used to use the slogan, "Manly: seven miles from Sydney but a thousand miles from care", to lure Sydney's workers over to the beaches and other seaside attractions here. It is still a very busy spot with large ferries full of daytrippers coming and going every half hour. Some stay on this calm harbour beach to swim, but probably most walk the short distance to the incredible surf beaches.

Little Manly Cove Pool

Another beach and pool that I had never been to until today. It was getting late, but the sun was still really warm. This was my last swimming spot, so I was going to just relax and enjoy the last of the afternoon.

So, I finally swam my way right around Sydney Harbour (or, more properly, Port Jackson). This section of the swim trek started at Watson's Bay a few days short of a year ago, then continued in December and has now been completed over these last two weeks or so.

There's still the Northern Beaches and their ocean baths to be tackled, but that could be another year away.