Swimming: Botany Bay

Showing posts with label Botany Bay. Show all posts

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Sally and Darelle's swimming adventures - Sandringham 15 Feb 2017

After our swimless trip to Bronte on Monday, we headed to the calmer waters of Botany Bay, at Sandringham for a quick dip, and a coffee at a favourite haunt, Kiss The Barista.

Apparently stingrays are amused by the old soft shoe shuffle, but only between April and October.......

...which meant tapper extraordinaire, Darelle's, dancing feet were not on display today

The owner of this pushbike told me what to do if stung by a stingray - pour on water as hot as you can stand it.

Obligatory selfie

The grey building at the end has toilet amenities; big enough to change in. Ample free parking (weekday), benches to sit on, and some shady trees.

Some very well-behaved dogs came to watch and wait

Time to repair to Kiss the Barista for coffee

Friday, 3 February 2017

Darelle and Sally's Swimming Adventures: Brighton-le-Sands 3 Feb 2017

An overcast but warm afternoon for our second foray to Botany Bay. The beach is known as Lady Robinson's Beach. Originally the beach was known as Seven Mile Beach. The beach was renamed after the wife of the then Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson (4 March 1872 – 24 February 1879)

Yes, we went in, but my waterproof camera is broken. The water was lovely - warm, clear and felt "soft".

Pony tails were the theme for the day.

Can always look out over the port and watch planes take off and arrive at Sydney airport

Once upon a time, when we were kids, Brighton Baths had an elevated boardwalk all around it. I remember in the late 1960s/early 70s being brave and sliding down the slippery dips into the sea.

Postcard

Photo from NSW Government Printer, Dec 1929 (State Lib of NSW collection)

Now the swimming enclosure is marked by nets between the posts.

Lots of cafes and restaurants clustered around Bay Street and The Grand Parade, including one on the beachfront. Nice coffee (including decaf!)

Once upon a time, sand from the dunes used to periodically cover The Grand Parade. These days, landscaping and dune stabilisation through vegetation prevents that.

The Grand Parade is a lot busier than it was when this pic of new crossing signs was taken on 17 September 1964 (State Library collection)

A fair number of the red brick flats that were starting to sprout are still there, though traffic lights have replaced crossings!

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Sally and Darelle's Swimming Adventures. Ramsgate and Dolls Point. 18 Jan 2017

On a windy afternoon, we set off to test the waters of Botany Bay in the south of Sydney. The water was really warm, and clear, so we had no trouble immersing ourselves. There have been king tides lately, so the water was right up to the wall in the swimming enclosure so we chose to swim outside.

There's a cafe/restaurant right at the baths, plentiful picnic facilities, shade from Norfolk Island pines and casuarinas, and further down towards Dolls Point, there's a couple more cafes.

A VERY windy afternoon

Windy day video

I've never seen the beach completely covered with water, but Darelle reminded me it is the season of king tides

Obligatory selfie...and then we swam for quite some time

Jet skis are common in the bay, much to the annoyance of a lot of people. Some jetskiers seem oblivious to other people. and do seem to set out to irritate and intimidate. This fellow was not hooning around when we saw him, and very slowly brought his vehicle up to the beach.

Looking south from where we swam, towards Dolls Point

A bike track goes all the way along the bay from up near the airport at Kyeemagh, to Dolls Point and Captain Cook Bridge.

Plenty of picnic shelters, grass and shade. There are also pretty good toilet facilities all the way along the shore. On crowded days there IS a lot of rubbish left behind, but there are also plenty of bins. Some people are just litterbugs and idiots! Today it was all very clean.

On to Dolls Point where we had refreshments (no pic). This used to be a swimming enclosure, but it seems that the sand has conquered the baths for the while.

I was quite surprised that mt local Council was telling me to "fear everything" !!!

Here's what we are meant to fear : boating traffic, slippery surfaces, submerged rocks, sudden drop off deep water, recreational craft, strong currents, large waves and sharks.

I think the sign may well need repair!

We certainly weren't going to be swimming left OR right of the sign today! Unless sand swimming is a thing.

Lots of free council-provided barbeques (and bins)

Some people prefer to bring their own charcoal barbeques, and in the past piles of hot charcoal left behind has been a bone of contention. So now there are charcoal bins as well.