It’s a long time (5 years) since I have written a blog about swimming. I have not stopped swimming and indeed have swum almost all of Sydney Harbour’s shoreline east of the Harbour Bridge. What brings to write now is the experience of being rescued from the ocean.
I love swimming in the ocean it is the place that brings me joy and a sense of mental peace. I love to look at the sea life as I swim along. There are a few special places in Sydney where there is an abundance of sea life that will happily swim along beside you and not get spooked. One of those places in Cabbage Tree Bay in Manly. It is a bay at the southern end of Manly Beach. You usually swim from the surf of Manly Beach to the quiet of Shelly Beach and once in Cabbage Tree Bay see a myriad of sea life. Cabbage Tree Bay is usually flat and relatively calm.
I have been there a few times this winter and have been blown away by the beautiful purply pink cuttle fish there. It was a sunny day with a westerly wind so perfect, I thought, to take my go pro and get some pictures of the cuttlefish.
My usual swimming partner couldn’t come. It is a place usually busy with swimmers swimming between Manly Beach and Shelly Beach at any time of the day. I live in the inner city of Sydney not next to the beach. I had looked up Beachwatch which said the water quality was good and a surf app that described Manly Beach surf as 3-4 ft and fair to good. It all sounded good.
When I got there. I went to Shelly Beach because I prefer not to get in and out of the surf if possible. (I don’t like getting dumped.) The bay looked a bit churned up and there were waves breaking off the point. There were also a lot of surfers off the beach and the point but no swimmers. I was a bit disappointed but decided I would go in regardless and have a swim around the bay which was a bit churned up but otherwise seemed okay. I realised I probably wouldn’t get any pictures.
I went in the water was nice, not too cold, but not very clear as a result of the chop. I swam out past the pool on the left, there were still a lot of fish to see. The fish seem very tame in Cabbage Tree Bay they swim right up to you and don’t move away which is one of the things that make it magical. I had determined I would only swim to where the waves were breaking at the corner where you swim into Manly Beach and I hadn’t reached that point when a wave I didn’t see broke over the top of me. I did a few somersaults and worried I might be thrown into the rocks. When I came up I was closer to the rocks and could see I was a lot closer to the breaking waves and I had lost my goggles and cap. I immediately realised that I needed to get away from the breaking waves and started to swim towards the middle of the bay. This was extremely hard without googles and with my hair around my face and nose making it hard to breath. I continued to swim as strongly as I could in the circumstances toward the middle of the bay and Shelly Beach. Every time I stopped and looked I seemed further from the beach and I was getting closer to the surfers.
It didn’t take long before I started to feel tired so I thought I would ask one of the surfers who were getting nearer to give me a push into the beach. I waved to one surfer who came over and asked me if I was alright. I said I was but I was finding it hard to swim without goggles (I didn’t really know where I was going with my eyes tightly shut.) I asked him if he could get me out of the current by pushing me closer to the beach. I realised then he was only on a body board. He said he didn’t think he would be able to do that and did I want some help. I said no I would be fine. I started back stroking toward the beach. I didn’t really want to look in front of me as the waves were so big. I backstroked for awhile but realised I was getting nowhere and if anything I was being pushed further out. I signalled to the same surfer and swam towards him and he swam towards me. I told him I didn’t think I could swim in. He told me to hang onto his board and take a rest. This I did. He was very calm and waved to other surfers and he and they waved to the shore for a lifeguard. He talked to me asking me my name and telling me his. I didn’t turn around and look at the waves. I saw someone in blue waving from the point to us. I saw there were a group of people on the point watching. Chris, the surfer said the lifeguard was coming.
After not too long a life saver on a JetSki arrived. He had a floating board attached with holders down the side. I swam over and tried to get on. This was very hard. My arm strength is not great and I was tired. The lifesaver (he told me his name but I’ve forgotten) got out of his seat and pulled me on. I was then able to wiggle myself on the board. I held on tight as me wizzed to Manly Beach thru the waves, scary as I used my weight to stay on. He dropped me right at the beach where I stumbled into shore exhausted. It took the lifesaver a lot longer to get the jet ski onto the beach after I got off due to the waves.
Another older lifesaver came and talked to me on the beach. He wanted to know if I’d seen him waving from the point making it clear they had seen me. I said I had.
Both the surfer and the lifesavers that had helped me were so nice. They never made me feel like the idiot I probably was for swimming out there alone. Chris, the surfer, told the lifesaver on the JetSki that I had lost my gear. When I thanked the JetSki lifesaver for getting the JetSki out and saving me he said he already had it out saving a surfer who had lost his board. The lifesaver on the beach said in that the surf was big and pulling water out of the bay. He said I should have been wearing fins in that sea. He did suggest its better to swim with someone.
I haven’t stopped admonishing myself but no one else did. When my arms recover I will be back in the ocean but a bit more careful to check the conditions and not be a lone swimmer.
(The photos in the blog are not from that day)
Ms Wally’s Swimming Adventures 