amazing swims

There have been more dolphins at Williamstown Beach this autumn and winter than I have seen before. And what happened yesterday has never happened to me before.

So what has happened was – Rick and I were swimming quite quickly when I saw a little dolphin swim underneath us – the tail was flat not a vertical sharky tail.

I looked around and saw a couple of big dolphins bobbing up and down next to us. As soon as I got near a no-boating marker, I stood up on its ledge to look around. Then it became clear that we were surrounded by dolphins. There were about 20 and they wanted to say hello. So I cleaned the goggles and tried to duck dive underwater and swim around with the dolphins.

They were in no hurry to leave us and it all happened very close to shore.

Dolphins in Port Phillip Bay are a separate species called Burrunan Dolphins and are under threat. There’s said to be about 120 left in the bay and a smaller number in Gippsland Lakes.

Burrunan dolphins have white markings on their tummy.

Inspired by a ABC TV News story about a group of “oddballs” in Perth I decided to jump in the cool ocean water on Wednesday at sunrise. Why not? Can’t hurt and it might be a fun way to break up the working week. Which for me is largely sitting at a desk typing on a computer.

I half expected to be on my own this morning but there was no shortage of swimmers in the sea, even before the sun appeared. And yes this is a good swim, not a real long swim, but well worth the effort. I swam about 1.7km with couple of others. Most the other people who turned up to join me completed about 1km, while some jumped in for a relaxed 200m dash.

Thanks everyone who turned up to swim with me on my return to physical exercise and the water.

And thanks to Sheryl Crowe and The Beatles.