Wild Weekend at Wylies

Sorry about the alliteration overload, but I couldn't resist it. Last weekend saw huge swells along the Sydney coastline. On the Saturday, I had a look at Wylies at low tide to see if a swim was possible. The waves were still crashing into the pool, and the surge was still spilling over the concrete deck behind the pool. Nobody was in the water, and I decided that I wasn't going to lead the way in that regard.

On Sunday the swell had eased, but was still rough enough that warnings were being posted and all of  Sydney's ocean beaches were closed. At low tide, there were only a few waves breaking into Wylies Baths, so in I went.

Three Weeks Until Winter

A gorgeous day in late Autumn. The morning was about 11 degrees Celsius, but was due to warm up to 22. Wylies Baths is perfect on a day like today. It's out of the cold winds and in the warm sun most of the day.

Walking down to Wylies

I swam a lazy 15 lengths in amongst the fish

 

Still no need for a hot shower

When I first started this blog, I only really intended to use it to record my progress in my (admittedly daft) attempt to swim the Sydney coastline using tidal baths and ocean pools. However, I got a bit carried away, and wrote a sort of a swim diary over the course of a year. I enjoyed doing this, but also wanted to tidy up the entries concerning the swim trek and try to present them sequentially. To that end, I've started a website concerned only with that swim. It needs a good deal of revision, as it's pretty much copied and pasted straight from this blog. Also, 10 pools/ enclosures (at least) still remain.  The website is at: http://sites.google.com/site/thelazyswimmer/ 

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.