Final sea swim day, 15 swims in 10 days, most, in Timaru’s Caroline Bay. Timaru, is a port city with a prosperous agricultural hinterland, it is constructed on rolling hills created from the extinct Mount Horrible, european settlement began with a whaling station in 1839, Caroline Bay offered a shelter bay for whales and their young, a big “Try” pot from the late 1800’s is still here, but the whales are long gone.
I’ve enjoyed swimming in Caroline Bay, named Caroline after an early supply ship visited the bay, many ships never left Caroline Bay, and met their fate at the base of the Benvenue Cliffs,anrgy rocks tore sailing ships apart, after the prevailing current and sea swells pushed them mercilessly to the unforgiving rocks at the base of the cliffs, these wrecks are burried beneath me, I feel the push of the current as I swim towards the cliffs and imagine what lies beneath, tea, sugar, whiskey and other early settler supplies.
Today the lighthouse has retired, the sea does not have rouge swells,and me and Cynthia enjoy a fine day for our last sea swim, calm waters, light winds, and clear skies, farewell Caroline Bay,tomorrow our final dip at the bast of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Mount Cook.