Sea Swimming Blog #33
Day 72 Sea Swimming.
#33 of the blog.
One hell of misty day today… I looked out the window this morning and could barely see a thing.
I dropped my little one off at school then quickly popped to Portelet as I thought the fog would be most visible on higher ground… I got there and could just about read the ‘to the beach sign’ and then could barely focus on the fort in the foggy distance, taking a quick photo then heading down to St Aubin where I expected it to be a little clearer due to the lower ground.
With the tide roughly half way out and receding, there were quite a few seabirds making the most of the fruit de mer that was on offer. I carefully walked as close as I could to the beautiful Brent geese, doing my best not to disturb them and took a few photos - although as you can see from the image, the large male let me know that I was right on the borderline of being an acceptable distance away.
First recorded on the island way back in 1694, around a thousand Brent geese spend their winters feeding from Jersey’s abundant shoreline, having travelled all the way from Siberia and Canada!
That’s a distance of around 8,000 miles, now that is some endurance event!
As for my own swim I got changed and walked out to the sea with the Bathing Beau & Bluebells, walking past the buoys (Wilson & Gracie) that I often swim to.
Even when we hit the waters edge (which was inline with St Aubin’s Fort) it was still quite a walk to get to a swimmable depth which was not that pleasant as I find the gradual entries to the cold water the most painful… it’s better for me just to get in and get on with it.
Whilst on a higher tide I usually swim out to the buoys, today I thought it best to swim across the bay from one side to the other - a process I repeated a couple of times… the water was flat so getting a rhythm to my stroke and my breathing was pretty easy with no swell or waves to catch me off guard.
All in all it was a great start to another grey winters day.
“Strength does not come from physical capacity.
It comes from an indomitable will.”
- Mahatma Ganhdi