Numbers swell for Friday’s swim around the island 2

Despite the chilly conditions thanks to an onshore breeze, Bevan, Dave, and Judy were front and center for the swim today. The water temp down the Raglan St end was 13.8C whilst our resident water temp measurer (Uncle Ken) recorded a reading of 14C. His hand was on the gauge when deducing that number which begs the question…

Judy headed out first and pulled up suddenly at the cones. I thought she may have hit something but she explained later that the cold water had literally taken her breath away!

Despite a super low tide, Bevan chose a perilous route close to the island and managed a safe crossing. Judy and Dave chose to avoid the plentiful supply of sea urchins that were clearly visible and swam wide. It was a leisurely pace set by Bevan and he spent a good portion of the time practicing his backstroke. When he straightened up and headed for Deadman’s, he almost took out one of the cones. Almost…

At the far end, our chat was brief as the water was COLD but invigorating. Heading back Bevan once more chose to shave the island – silly boy – whilst Judy and Dave swam wide. Foggy goggles and shallow water is not a good combination. I stopped to chat to two snorkellers who had spied 4 lobsters yesterday and a school of squid. Not much else going on as far as sea life was concerned.

Having survived our travails, a cool breeze greeted us in the shallows. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t were the two choices – stay in and freeze to death or get out and freeze to death – fortunately the latter choice claimed no casualties.

Coffee at La Republica afterwards was particularly nice!