After a chilly Christmas, the sun came out on Boxing Day, providing us with a beautiful, warm day to head to the beach. J had heard that Breaker Bay (on the other side of town from us) was particularly good, so we drove that way.
It was, indeed, very beautiful. The hills are on the other side of the opening to the harbour.
We were looking for a place that wasn't too busy, and was good for swimming. I think these places with rocks in the water are the most beautiful, but they're hazardous when it comes to swimming, so we kept going.
We got to this little beach, and decided it was perfect. By this time, we'd actually gone past Breaker Bay and into Tarakena Bay, which neither of us had heard of, but it was lovely.
We played catch for a while near the beach, partially because we enjoy it, and partially to get warmed up before swimming, because even in summer, the water is freezing!
We got changed into our wetsuits at the car, and then headed down to the water.
While I'm often at the beach, I haven't gone swimming for a while, so I was very excited to start!
It was absolutely frigid as the icy water started flowing into our wetsuits. I got to the point in this picture, or a bit deeper, and then just dove under, while J slowly waded all the way up to his neck. Neither way really diminished the cold, but you do what you can.
But once we got in, the wetsuits did their jobs, and we kept moving, and it was wonderful. And I always forget how much fun salt water is - it buoys you up, so it's beautifully easy to float.
You can barely see me in this picture, but I didn't want to crop it, because the ocean is so stunning!
This is the view from the edge of the water.
There were plenty of beautiful places to explore, although we didn't stay too long after swimming, because the wind was just cool enough that it kept us from fully warming back up. So we went home for a cup of tea.
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