THE flags have come down at a number of local beaches, but weekday patrols will continue at the region’s two most popular beaches, Town Beach and Flynns.
The council’s weekday patrols at Lighthouse Beach, Lake Cathie, Rainbow Beach (Bonny Hills) and North Haven finished after the Australia Day public holiday.
The council will however continue to provide patrols at Town Beach seven days a week and at Flynns Beach five days a week (Monday to Friday) between 9am and 4.30pm through until the end of April.
Volunteer surf life-savers will continue to patrol Flynns Beach, Lighthouse Beach, Rainbow Beach and North Haven on weekends and public holidays through until the end of the surf life-saving season, also at the end of April.
The council’s senior lifeguard, Grant Hudson, urged beachgoers to put safety first and to only swim between the flags at patrolled beaches.
He said an incident at North Haven last week – which saw three people swept out the back of the flagged area – was a reminder of how quickly a simple swim at the beach could go disastrously wrong.
The three people were rescued by council lifeguards with the help of a surfer who was in the water at the time.
Mr Hudson said if the three had been swimming at an unpatrolled beach or outside of the flagged area, all of them could have drowned.
“Our primary safety message remains the same,” Mr Hudson said.
“No flags, no swim.”
Beachgoers are also being advised to be on the lookout for blue-ringed octopuses following a number of sightings in the local area, particularly in the Spooney’s Bay area at Bonny Hills.
Blue-ringed octopuses are small and considered relatively docile, but their venom is powerful enough to kill an adult human within minutes. Any sightings should be reported to council lifeguards or volunteer life-savers.
