Blue Bottles, Sea Lice, and Sharks... Oh My!

Our ocean training continues to be anything. but boring. They've begun to break the group into two 'pods' - beginner / intermediate and advanced. The main difference being that the advanced group does an L shaped swim out through the break, over to the side of the beach, and back again while the beginner / intermediate group goes in and out of the surf.

At first I was very reluctant to join the advanced group as I wasn't sure if I was up for the long swim, however given the creatures which were hanging out in the surf I am very happy I did. The other group was battling blue bottle jelly fish and sea lice which were all being washed into the shore. Now for those people how haven't braved the waters of Australia and who don't know what blue bottles are - they are more of an annoyance than a serious danger. As with all jelly fish they have those lovely strings which sting and burn, however they are not as poisonous than many of their cousins. (see picture below) One of my friends was saying he somehow managed to get one in his swim trunks...

Like many jelly fish - they may look pretty but they have a nasty sting

In addition to the lovely floating fish, there were sea lice. Now at first I thought the people talking about these were joking or making something up - because I sure hadn't heard of anything like this before. But after feeling the itchy feeling and doing a bit of research I can confirm they are real and they are nasty little buggers! I wanted to find out a bit more about them and found the following pictures... ugly!!

This is a picture of someone with Sea Lice bites

Like I said... ugly!!

So far we have swum over 35 Ks in preparation which is equal to over 750 laps in the pool!

Thank you to those who have helped support our fundraising, at last check we have raised nearly $2000 total which is half of our goal. :)

First Week of Training - And Still Standing

This week was the first week of training with our teams and we were very impressed by the training group. They were very organised and will be an extremely valuable part of our preparation for the race. Our program includes two sessions - one in the pool during the week, and Saturday's session at Bondi beach - and will help us being the endurance and ocean knowledge needed to survive the race (literally and figuratively). Our weeknight training is in a pool in the city (Cook & Philip) where they have three or four lanes blocked specifically for our group. This first session was a wake-up but wasn't too horrible. The Wednesday group (with Amanda and Mel) swam 800M and it seems they wanted to push Thursday's group a bit more as we swam 1.2 K.

The real awakening came at Saturday morning's surf training - which started promptly at 9AM. At this first session we were given the overview about the rips - those dangerous currents which have a tendency to pull unaware tourists out to sea - and how we will eventually learn to use those currents to our advantage. Once we actually were in the water it was a bit of a shock at first. A shock with the cold water, having to get adjusted to swimming as normal in the ocean water, and entering/exiting the water with hordes of people (there were 130+ there this weekend). In the end it was great to get a bit of experience and begin the journey of how this will all play out. For me the most interesting part was the fact that with goggles on we can see what is lurking below us... given yesterday's workout was simply to practice swimming through the surf and back we didn't see much more than sand, seaweed and an occasional rock. What worries me most is what we might see once we get out a bit further...

Stay tuned as we update the blog with team bios and progress reports on our fundraising and training goals.

Three Brave Souls...

Three brave souls have set themselves a goal to risk their lives, dig deeper than ever before, tempt the jaws of fate, and .... complete an ocean swim in the shark infested water of Australia.

Why you ask? To help raise money for cancer research!!

Over the coming months our team will be posting updates on our story and progress towards our goals. The swim isn't until February (which is good because I for one haven't been in a pool - let alone swam a lap - for longer than I can remember) so over the coming months we will be posting updates and hopefully helping you justify supporting us in our efforts!

Stay tuned as our journey begins. :)

-Kerri