Summer Beach Safety Tips – Don’t Be That Local Who Needed Rescuing

Stay Safe at Lady Bay This Summer: Rips, Jellyfish, and the Sunscreen Mistakes We All Make

G’day Warrnambool,

Last summer our volunteer lifesavers pulled 87 people out of trouble at Lady Bay. Almost all of them said the same thing: “I’ve been swimming here for years, I know this beach.” Famous last words.

With school holidays starting and the water already hitting 19 °C, here’s your 2025 cheat-sheet so you and the kids come home with nothing worse than sandy towels.

1- Swim Between the Flags – Always                                                            The red-and-yellow flags mark the patrolled zone. That’s where the lifesavers are watching you like hawks. Everywhere else might look exactly the same, but it isn’t. Last summer 92 % of rescues happened outside the flags.

2- The Lady Bay Rip You Can Set Your Watch To: There’s a permanent rip that hugs the breakwater wall, especially on the turn of the tide. You’ll know you’re in it when you’re suddenly scooting sideways faster than your mate who’s still standing in waist-deep water. 

1. 1. Rule #1 of rip survival: Don’t try to swim against it. You’ll lose. Wave one arm high, float like a starfish, and let the rip take you out until it weakens (usually 50–100 m). Then swim parallel to the beach and catch a wave back in. Our lifesavers will already be on their way.

3- Blue-Ringed Octopuses Are Back and They’re Grumpy 

Warm autumn = more sightings in the rock pools. They’re the size of a golf ball and prettier than they have any right to be. If it flashes neon-blue rings when you poke it with a stick, congratulations – you just annoyed the most venomous animal in the ocean. Rule: Hands off anything that looks like jewellery.

4- Bluebottles – The Painful Little Balloons Easterly winds = bluebottle city. Hot water is out, cold water is out. The only thing that actually works is the vinegar stations now at every beach access (big high-five to council for finally installing them). Pour it on, pick off the tentacles with a stick or your fingers (not sand – that makes it worse), then ice for the pain.

5- Sunscreen: The Mistakes We All Still Make

“Waterproof” does NOT mean “reapply once a season”. Every two hours, folks.

• • Rashies + zinc for the nose and lips beat white zombie face and keep the reef (and our little penguins on Middle Island) happier.
  • Pro tip from Warrnambool Skin Clinic: put it on 20 minutes BEFORE you leave home – half the burns happen in the first 15 minutes.

6- Rock Pools and Little Kids:

The breakwater rock platform looks flat and safe. It isn’t. Black weed + sudden chest-deep holes = recipe for panic. Bright rashies, reef shoes, and the “never turn your back” rule. Three seconds is all it takes.

Your 30-Second Cheat Sheet

• • Swim between the red & yellow flags
  • Read the signs (or scan the new QR codes)
  • Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide – still the GOAT
  • See a rip? Float, don’t fight
  • If someone’s in trouble, call 000 and throw them something that floats
  • Ask a lifesaver – they’re friendlier than they look in the red-and-yellow

Quote from Jess Agostinello, Warrnambool SLSC Patrol Captain

“Most of the people we rescue are locals who got cocky. The ocean doesn’t care how long you’ve lived here. Swim between the flags and float if you’re ever in trouble – that’s literally all you need to remember.”

Send us your best beach-safety hack or a photo of the family doing the full Slip-Slop-Slap-Seek-Slide this summer. Best entries win a rashie + beach towel pack from Proudfoots Boathouse (we’ve got five to give away).

See you at the beach – between the flags!

Stay safe and salty,