Life's a Beach - Missing Bikinis and Great White Sharks

For me, one of the main reasons for returning to Australia is to play on the waves. The beaches here are beautiful and I try to get out to the beach as often as I can (almost every day). I consider myself respectful of the surf and try to keep within my limits when venturing into the ocean. Aside from the marine life that may cause concern (jellyfish, stingrays and BIG fish) there is also big waves, nasty rip currents and undertows and whatever may lie on the sea floor that you may step on or be tossed onto.

Here's an article from one of the days I was playing in the surf at Bondi (I don't recall an alarm but I did hear some rumours and saw some boats buzzing around):

Second Bondi shark in a month - Livenews.com.au

Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach has been closed for the second time in as many months after another shark sighting this afternoon.

At around three o'clock the Westpac surf lifesaver rescue helicopter spotted a three metre shark at the southern end of the beach.... and ordered lifesavers to sound the alarm.

Beach goers flocked to the shore as lifesavers attempted to scare the shark off on jet skis.

The beach has since been re-opened.

This comes just a month after a local surfer was mauled by a great white at the same end of Bondi Beach which resulted in him losing his hand in the attack.

"Three years ago, we recorded just one shark off Sydney beaches," said Brown. "Last year, we saw seven and this year we have recorded more than 27." - Michael Brown, director of Surfwatch, a helicopter-borne volunteer service that locates sharks and looks for emergencies close to shore. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/15/australia-sydney-shark-attacks-race

That said... the beach is still heaps of fun. A group of us ventured to Coogee Beach the other day and the waves were awesome. Nothing like looking up at a wave and seeing the entire silhouette of the person standing in the wave (completely vertical) before it crashes into itself, or, the spray like rain on the backside as the wind breaks off parts of the crest. Dive under and hear a muffled roar above before you surface into a bubbling and still turning white wave aftermath.

There is another side to these fun waves that I feel I should mention. They may be considered bikini displacement devices. Needless to say, I feel I have shared many an intimate wave moment with quite a few of my female hostel companions. One incident worth noting was of a rather voluptuous girl from England who required a bikini strap repair while still out in the surf... I'm always ready to aid a damsel in distress. Things got a bit crazier a short while later when a series of big waves came crashing in and I hear a voice behind me "Darrell. Help. I've lost my bottoms!" In between sets of waves I actually (miraculously) saw the bottom piece of a bikini drifting away... a minute or so later I was able to grab them and return them to the rightful owner. Now lay the a new, and equally difficult challenge - getting then on. After many failed attempts at self clothing, the need for further assistance was required. She was quite embarrassed but grateful.