zuluclayman

These are pics of the local ocean baths - one on a good day two where mother nature got a little cranky








NB: this is less than a kilometre from where the Pasha Bulker was stranded on a beach a couple of years ago - many were worried she would end up in the baths as she was less than 50 metres from the rock shelf the baths are built into.

WereBo

You gotta admit, Nature's awesome, especially when in a 'rather peeved' mood

I hope that blue angular construction is a breakwater, mooring jetty or something, rather than someone's roof - it's hard to tell with what looks like a chimney-stack on top

zuluclayman

Have a look at the first pic and this one werebo - it's a wall that shelters the (art-deco style) baths from nor'easterly winds (prevalent in summer) so people can swim in calm water for laps and in the old days races were held in that pool - the big pool of photo three is just the fun swimming area with diving platform and deep and shallow ends.
Not really sure what the chimney/pipe like thingy is - most likely something to do with the pumphouse which is just on the other side of the lefthand wall - see this pic taken from outside

WereBo

Goof grief!!! What a place to put a garden shed....

zuluclayman

seaweed garden

Done_Fishin

Looks like the "outhouse" to me .. with psychological help for the constipated

strange place to put it, whatever it is .. just don't tell me that it protects the "plughole"

cool pictures though

WereBo

That's got me wondering now - What gets pumped that needs a pump-house for it, the ocean?

zuluclayman

The pumps suck sea water in when needed and also pump the baths out every couple of weeks for cleaning - they bring in a front end bucket loader to clear some of the sand and other rubbish out then pump sea water back in. The channel is open all the time for water to come in and out - quite often see fish in there and last year a wobbegong (carpet shark) was found in this pool.
We have two ocean baths in Newcastle this is a pic of the pumphouse of the other one. Both obviously designed by the same architect

DonaldG

Those are nice shots ZCM.

I love to see 'power' photos showing the raw effect of nature either during or after!

Thanks for sharing.

DonaldG

Is it this one?

(Imagery via Google Earth)

Done_Fishin

looks like the tide was out when they shot those photo's

zuluclayman

yep that's the one! the pool to the left in the pic is called the Canoe Pool - it's a kiddie pool, nice and shallow and back in the early days you could rent small canoes to paddle around in there

Done_Fishin

I can understand now why they decided to build a pool for swimming .. not much of a beach is there .. difficult to tell just how steep that rock face is but looks bad enough in "calm" weather!

I alos understand now why the "tsunami" effect in the first post second picture .. is there a sudden drop in the depth that we can't see?

WereBo

According to Google-Earth (and Google-Maps), there's quite a sheer drop-off just past that rock shelf that the pool's built on.

If you use 'Google-Maps' and tick the 'More....' - 'Photos' box, you can see peoples photos of the 'Pasher Bulker', stranded on the rocks.

@ Zulu - Those photos are worth uploading to 'Panoramio', to share with folks - Excellent quality

wrench97

The sheer cliff doesn't appear that large(long)

zuluclayman

There are good surf/swimming beaches either side (within 100-200 metres) of this swimming pool - it just sits on a rock shelf between the two beaches. There is a drop-off at the back of the rock shelf causing the waves to really stand up as they come from deeper water to the rock shelf, heightening the effect in big swells like this one in the pics.
The Pasha on Nobby's beach (the beach 200 metres to the north of the pool) was a photographer's magnet - so many good images came out in the months after.
These are some of mine taken the next morning after the storm.



the reflections in the sand were terrific!



the view across the park as I walked up the road leading to the beach - shows how big a ship she was!



people came out to look at the "boat on the beach"




the Pasha being towed off the reef a couple of months after the grounding. This shot shows the baths on the RHS (the little buildings are site sheds as the baths are undergoing restoration and maintenance), the Cowrie Hole (a little beach/surf spot, then more rock shelf and around the corner (just out of view is Nobby's Beach where the Pasha was stranded.

WereBo

That 2nd photo (the close-up of Pasher Bulk) really shows just how massive the tanker is.

What happened to it, did it swerve to avoid a duck?

zuluclayman

There was an inquiry (as you would expect) and they found a number of factors contributed to the grounding. The ship was one of many waiting off the coast to load coal - there have been as many as 70 ships waiting at times over the last few years - they have a queue system and sometimes wait weeks to get into harbour.
* the captain had made the decision not to head out to sea when the bad weather warnings were issued, most of the ships did. Three did not - the other two narrowly (by as much as 500 metres) escaped grounding on two other nearby beaches - one only with the help of a sea-going tug!
*the captain had de-ballasted the ship earlier than he should have - they pump out the sea water ballast at sea when they know its their turn to come in to harbour - to save time (and demurrage fees) he pumped early. This meant the ship was floating higher in the water and was therefore harder to control and a bigger target for both wind and waves
* the captain was woken by the watch officer when things started to get bad but thought it was OK and went back to bed - bad move!
* when things did get worse he was restricted in where he could go by the Port authorities - they have a restricted zone near the harbour mouth (to avoid a ship blocking the harbour should it come to grief) and they were telling him not to enter this which led him to steer a weird course to try and avoid a) the beach and b) the restricted zone
All up - a real snafu!

oh and later that day/evening the town centre and many suburbs were badly flooded - all in all a busy day for the emergency services

WereBo

Good grief! That captain sounds like an accident waiting to happen

Done_Fishin

TOO LATE !!! It happened already