What a terrific month May has been at Bondi. The weather has been sparkling, underwater visibility in the bay is extraordinary, as is the amount of sea life. Swam the bay today and went over two schools of salmon, one at each end of the beach. The first whales have been spotted heading north and the Icebergs has Coopers on Tap. Also, ask Greg when is he putting Lamb Cutlets on the specials again, yum-o. Does life get any better?
The pool has been looking tropical and the temperature has begun to drop (as predicted it would) in these last couple of weeks. Why? It’s always the overnight temps combined with cool offshore westerlies that do it. The pool, being a small body of water, once we bring in the fresh water from the ocean, loses heat rapidly in these conditions.
However, you no longer have that “I can’t swim in the cold” excuse dear member. A deal’s been done. Members of the Bondi Icebergs can now show their card at "Pursuit Sports" in Gould St (just around the corner from Curlewis St) and get a whooping 25% discount off the retail price of an Orca Wetsuit. This puts the base model at $261- an absolute bargain. I have an earlier model of this suit and it’s going into its third winter season of major useage. Be warned however, while the shop has plenty of stock now, but these prices are limited to what's in store, i.e., once sold, the prices will go up on new stock.
So there is no excuse now not to swim, my ocean group continues through winter and as a result, this year’s boardies will fit next spring. Best of all, you don’t have to swim in heated, filthy %$#@*&^ chlorinated pools. (Recent study proved conclusively that workers at indoor pools suffer higher levels of respiratory tract infections...what a surprise).
No, you can’t wear it in the Sunday races, why? Because it’s the Icebergs you idiot!
So get a wetsuit and get into it. Do squad, get a coach in your life and get that stroke corrected for next summer (bondifit.com.au). Swimming in winter is way COOL and in a wetsuit, you’ll be HOT!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
What you're missing.
What a day at the Bondi Icebergs today. Max temp hit 24ºC and the pool is a bath like 20.4ºC. The weekend swell had dissipated, smaller waves with glassy surface conditions made ocean swimming a pleasure. It's the best time of year and stranger still, nobody's here! You get the lane to yourself. Get out of bed you fools! You don't know what you're missing, it's not cold, just dark and there is no better place to watch the sunrise. I know some of you are sneaking off to those disgusting, indoor, chlorinated, overused, heated bacterial breeding grounds that pass themselves off as "good for you" pools. Wrong.
By 9:30 am today it was more summer than summer at Bondi and that's when the dolphins turned up. As many of you who swim the bay would know, the salmon are back (actually they are really a sea perch) in schools as large as we saw last year. One school was about 100 to 200m off the ocean end of the pool and the pod, of about 25 dolphins, went for them.
The rescue board was out of the office quick smart and close encounters of the Marine Mammal kind were had by two of the staff over the next 45 minutes (on their break of course). Our rescue board is 12 ft long and many of the dolphins were longer than that. Up close, this is a big animal. There were also babies with mothers. Sliding off the board with mask and snorkel, to have 7 dolphins, in close proximity, in 20 feet of water, is a memorable experience. All the time the water a cacophony of their clicks and whistles.
We’ve seen bigger pods over the past twelve months but they haven’t come as close as these. In general there has been a resurgence of marine life around the Bay, nearly always something to see and worth a snorkel in calm conditions.
This was a special day, bring on the whales!
By 9:30 am today it was more summer than summer at Bondi and that's when the dolphins turned up. As many of you who swim the bay would know, the salmon are back (actually they are really a sea perch) in schools as large as we saw last year. One school was about 100 to 200m off the ocean end of the pool and the pod, of about 25 dolphins, went for them.
The rescue board was out of the office quick smart and close encounters of the Marine Mammal kind were had by two of the staff over the next 45 minutes (on their break of course). Our rescue board is 12 ft long and many of the dolphins were longer than that. Up close, this is a big animal. There were also babies with mothers. Sliding off the board with mask and snorkel, to have 7 dolphins, in close proximity, in 20 feet of water, is a memorable experience. All the time the water a cacophony of their clicks and whistles.
We’ve seen bigger pods over the past twelve months but they haven’t come as close as these. In general there has been a resurgence of marine life around the Bay, nearly always something to see and worth a snorkel in calm conditions.
This was a special day, bring on the whales!
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