Arlene has been coming to BONDI for 34 summers. (Longer, if you count her visits in the fall!) In all that time, she has never missed the Island Swim. This is every Thursday morning in the summers. We go early, because the lake is still then. There is very little boat traffic, or waves.
Every swimmer has an escort boat, a canoe, kayak, paddleboat, and Nancy patrols the course with an outboard. It's not a race -- swimmers swim at their own pace. John kayaks along with Arlene.
Sometimes, like this morning, we are joined by others who share the lake -- the occasional loon. A family of ducks. Today it was a cormorant, who flew so close to John's escorting kayak he could have touched it with a paddle.
Earlier in the week, kayaking on Cache Lake in Algonquin Park, a loon surfaced so close to John's kayak that he could have touched him without a paddle. Any closer, and the loon would have been sitting IN the kayak too!
The Island is a mile away. There's a huge flat cliff at the halfway mark. And there is always the risk that swimmers will drift off course towards Lumina Resort, our neighbours. About the time we swim from the Island, the second sitting is heading into the Dining Room at Lumina. The sound of the breakfast gong, the faint smell of coffee and bacon must drift across the water and lure our swimmers off course! That's hardly surprising -- Lumina has an excellent chef!
As of this morning's swim, Arlene has swum 70 miles, coming from the Island home to Bondi. She says she has no intention of missing these swims anytime soon, even if her kids seem to reach the dock before her!
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