five swims at Hataitai Beach

Bingo!  J and I have  done it.  'Five, five, five swims for the month of November. 

The other day as I got into the water, there was a woman sunbathing on the deck, the first  sunbather we'd seen since last summer.  I'd earlier spoken to another woman who had told me that the sunbather had been in the water for about a minute.  As I exited the water, the sunbather said to me, "That was quick".  I was floored!  I mumbled something about, "I don't think 21 minutes is all that quick" and scuttled away. I can only put it down to the fact that the sunbather had been so engrossed in her book that she hadn't realised that I'd been in the water for so long in the November cold Wellington seas. 

When we first started swimming over the winter a few years back, we were no more than a couple of minutes in the water.  Non-swimmers just don't realise how bad Wellington winter waters are, what with our cold and windy climate.    Especially when one is just in a bathing suit and not a wetsuit.

Sigh.

Come December, it's all systems go, swimming-wise for  J and me.  Our 'rule book' says we can go anytime without letting the other know.  Summer-summer-summer, la-de-dee-dah!!!

R and her dog Pinot were at the beach yesterday.  A sure sign that summer is coming.  It's so nice to meet our summer friends once more.