The Herring Pond (and other news)

The Herring Pond in Portstewart is a famous place for diving and swimming - it goes back a lot of years and it's the sort of place you would have heard your grandparents tell you about how popular it was in their day.  Not really surprising, I guess - the Atlantic Ocean's been here for a while and these rock formations don't change overnight.  There's a natural breakwater around the Herring Pond so that for the most part it remains free from strong sea-swells - it's a pretty safe place to swim unless there's really big water about. This is what it looks via the TiTAN pinhole - the pond itself is just behind the railings:

The Herring Pond, Portstewart. Pinhole shot, FP4+ on MGV paper.

It's not best of prints - as you can see most of the detail in the sky has been lost.  I didn't think the shot warranted the sacrifice of another sheet of paper.  If you look closely towards the centre-left of the shot you might just spot the top part of a set of metal steps which lead down into the pond itself.  The show-offs (mostly young lads, for some strange reason) stand atop the step ladder and do a swallow dive into the water some 20 feet or so below.  The rest of us mere mortals edge ourselves in gently and try not to scream as the coldness of the water envelopes you.  And yes, that did include me a few years ago, when my daughter begged me to join her in her 'snorkeling' phase.  Even in late summer the water is cold, I can tell you - and that's with a 5mm wetsuit on, gloves and boots included.  Impressively, the Herring Pond is a favourite of an oldies' Wild Swimming group, who venture down most days of the year - without wetsuits.  I take my hat off to them. 

They say you never forget your first time and that's certainly true for me.  The first time I suited up and went in was quite incredible.  I swam a few strokes out to the centre of the pond (it's not very wide) and then upended myself to see how this snorkeling melarky works.  It is no exaggeration to say I nearly passed out with shock at the sight before me - no-one had warned me what to expect but the floor of the pond was about 100 feet below me and it was clear water all the way down.  My instinctive reaction was to panic - I thought I was going to fall!  I quickly splashed myself vertical while my brain caught up with things and I realised that no, I wasn't going to fall, or even sink to the bottom.  It's quite funny thinking about it now but the fact is I simply couldn't process what my eyes were seeing.  Eventually I got my head around it and ventured another look, remembering that the whole point of using a snorkel was that I could breathe while my head was underwater...

The world that revealed itself to me was like something from another planet - a myriad of kelp, thongweed and various other seaweeds and underwater flora.  The colours and varieties were simply astounding - the whole of the pond was just full of life.  That summer we went to the Herring Pond a lot.

I totally get the whole Wild Swimming thing - I can see how it could easily become addictive.  Yes it's cold at any time of the year but from what I read the sea temperature doesn't change that much throughout the year.  A dip in the Atlantic doesn't half lift you from your torpor, that's for sure.

In other news, I received my second (and last, for now at least) Pfizer vaccine yesterday.  The rollout has been impressively quick here in Northern Ireland - considering it was only December 8th that the first person in the world received the Pfizer vaccine it's quite amazing to be sitting here in a fairly remote part of the UK having had both doses by the 17th of February.  I'm very grateful - to the scientists, public health officials, nurses and volunteers.  No major side-effects to report this morning, apart from a bit of tenderness around the injection site.  

From what I read that means that in 7 days time I'm as protected from a serious reaction to the COVID-19 virus as protected can be.  The quoted efficacy for the Pfizer vaccine is 95%.  Even a glass-half-empty person would have difficulty justifying worrying too much about the 5% - and I'm generally a glass-half-full person.  The caveat is that it isn't clear yet if receiving the vaccine means your chances of getting COVID-19 and transmitting it are reduced - although the head of Pfizer has stated that animal studies have shown that it provides significant protection from transmitting the virus this has yet to be proven in humans.  So for the moment it's business as usual with regard to masks and social distancing, although from now on I'll be the first in our house to volunteer to run to the shops for milk or bread should the need arise.  Heck, I might even get out with a camera again...