San Remo jetty, photo by Andrew Kemp
By Andrea Kemp
The water is still, only at slack tide.
The lunar pull creates the tides that are either moving water out to Bass Strait or into Westernport, creating the sandbars and exposing the mudflats. The pylons, buried deep, provide a place where boats can tie-up, a promenade and a fishing platform that is seasonally painted by the squid’s last line of defence - abstract ink.
During summer months this is where locals earn rites of passage, testing their swimming skills, initially in the shallows but eventually in the ripping tide. Never a silent activity, there is goading, laughter, shrill squeals, amplified conversations as participants are jumping from one end of the jetty and being swept to the opposite end. Speed and direction are tide dependent. The final climb up a barnacle encrusted ladder marks the end of the ride and the swimmers often return to the loop!
The water is still, only at slack tide.
The lunar pull creates the tides that are either moving water out to Bass Strait or into Westernport, creating the sandbars and exposing the mudflats. The pylons, buried deep, provide a place where boats can tie-up, a promenade and a fishing platform that is seasonally painted by the squid’s last line of defence - abstract ink.
During summer months this is where locals earn rites of passage, testing their swimming skills, initially in the shallows but eventually in the ripping tide. Never a silent activity, there is goading, laughter, shrill squeals, amplified conversations as participants are jumping from one end of the jetty and being swept to the opposite end. Speed and direction are tide dependent. The final climb up a barnacle encrusted ladder marks the end of the ride and the swimmers often return to the loop!