There are swims going on all day every day now, it seems.   With Marie Watson joining the other snappers, there are pics to record nearly every swim.  The two James – Slowey and Shalloo – were down the other morning and there was no camera there.  They waited 25 mins but had to just go in the end.  The swim doesn’t count if there’s no picture, so they’ll have to try again tomorrow.

Some swimmers held back on re-joining us in the sea until the temperatures rose.  Bit of a surprise for them to come back and find it’s about as warm as last October/November.  Never mind – welcome back, Alan McGuinness.

Alan McGuinness nearly back in the sea – just looking for confirmation that it’s warm….

He was smiling before the swim anyway – and Olwen Golden was beaming after hers.

Olwen Golden proving – once again – that sea swimming makes you smile.

Further proof of the guaranteed smiles – and not just for the camera – from Ray and Rosie Clancy.

So what are you waiting for?  Get smiling (just a quick swim out to the Dutchman or over to Fennell’s Bay and you’ll be smiling for the day).

As well as the various swims being organised on facebook, whatsapp etc., normal 08.15 swim on Saturday morning.  Smiles guaranteed.

Rebeca Power got an unpleasant surprise last Thursday swimming out towards the Dutchman, when she felt a feeling like a bite and ended up with these marks on her leg.

Looks like it could have been a bite and Rebeca wasn’t sure, so we called in the experts.  Carol Cashell sent the picture to the Coastal & Marine Research Centre Environmental Research Institute in UCC for an opinion and here’s what Martina Gosch had to say:

“So we’ve definitely ruled out a seal. Even if it were just a pup taking a nibble out of curiosity or scratching with its nails we would expect to see far more damage and the breadth of the wound is far too small for a seal’s mouth. There are no shark species in our inshore waters that are dangerous to swimmers, so I would encourage bathers in Myrtleville not to avoid going swimming there. 

Our best guess (and I stress guess) is that its caused from a nasty jellyfish sting. Prolonged exposure to their tentacles can cause this type of damage. Furthermore we are in peak jellyfish season and the odd venomous one will occasionally come in quite close to shore. There are other options too like scraping off random detritis or coming into contact with a scorpionfish. However its near impossible to tell exactly what caused this injury – but it’s not a bite.

Our advice would be to keep an eye on it over the next 24 hours. Should she experience any nausea or fever go straight to her GP as it could become infected. Also perhaps wearing a wetsuit at the moment while the jellies are around might help avoid incidents like this over the summer.”

Or, as all sea swimmers say at this time of year – bloody jellies.

God loves a trier and credit has to go to Carol Cashell for working so hard to achieve her qualifying swim for the RNLI Myrtleville – Church Bay Swim on July 4th.  After a number of un-ratified attempts, she showed her true character on Monday night last.  Not only did she smash the 1500m qualifying distance by doing 4km, she did it while wearing drag weights she had picked up on a jaunt to England, just to demonstrate her strength.  Well done, Carol and roll on July 4th 🙂

Carol and her drag weights. Please, do not try this at home or in the water. Carol is a professional with many years of experience in winning and wearing drag weights of this kind.

Elsewhere on the beach, the temperatures are rising – slowly, it has to be said – and there are lots of people back in the sea and loving it.  Liam Maher managed his qualifier swim too and was delighted (his entry under Qualifying Swims was “Plenty” – so the committee tapped him for a real swim).     

More visitors from around the country are appearing – a bit further than Tipp this time.

Conal McBride down from Donegal to get some warmer water, with Patrick “The Shadow” McCabe.

Sinead O’Donnell conducted an experiment on what happens if you put a wet foot into dry sand – results below.  Imagine that. I wonder if the two guys on the right have any intention at all of “getting down” – as in the old phrase “It’s grand once you’re down”.

Not a lot of people know this, but Bernard Lynch never washed his Speedos.  They’ve been living in the back of his car for about five years and drenched in saline or chlorine most days.  Imagine his surprise when he reached for them last week and discovered they’d mutated into jammers or been swapped by a family member.  I think we’ll have to start an online campaign to bring back the Speedos – he’s not the same without them.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the downside of Summer in Myrtleville is that some undesireables start to turn up on the beach.  The dodgy character below on the left was circulating during the week, muttering about “fresh” and “camps” and other lunacies.  Just move away if he approaches you.  He’s inherently harmless, we believe.

Good luck to everyone in Garnish tomorrow.  Remember, it’s a perfect qualifier for July 4th!  Enter here for the RNLI Myrtleville – Church Bay Swim.