Into the void

On swimming with sharks and dolphins

Featured in

  • Published 20231107
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-89-4
  • Extent: 208pp
  • Paperback, ePub, PDF, Kindle compatible

THE SUN HAS just peeked above the cloudless horizon, but its golden light holds little warmth at this hour, at this time of year.

Overlooking the beckoning ocean in front of the South Maroubra Surf Club, I brace myself for the slap of wintry air on my bare skin as I remove my warm, woolly clothing. Goosebumps appear immediately over my body; my nipples contract and harden. The concrete, which holds the deep cold of night, numbs my feet. I pull on my wetsuit, bright-green rubber swimming cap, clean my goggles and briskly rub the palms of my hands together for warmth. Around me on this July morning are fifteen or so members of an ocean-swimming group based here at Maroubra and nearby Coogee on Bidjigal country in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. ‘The Coobras’ meet most days of the week, year-round – provided the water conditions are fit for swimming. The group’s lighthearted name reflects its general attitude: free of pretentiousness or smugness, it welcomes people of all swimming abilities. The slowest among the group proudly refer to themselves as ‘the turtles’.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

More from author

Hidden tracks

Non-fictionYoung and Kucyk are as good at tracking down hard-to-find people as they are at tracking down hard-to-find music, although sometimes they do reach dead ends. Their methods aren’t particularly advanced and are often helped by luck. Sometimes they’ll raid the White Pages. Sometimes they’ll search for relatives of musicians online. Sometimes – as in the case of another song on Someone Like Me – they’ll scour through five years’ worth of archived weekly newsletters from a Seventh Day Adventist Church in the UK and Ireland and spot a tiny article that contains the full name of a mysterious musician they’re trying to find.

More from this edition

metanoia

Poetry the book holds the horse – rustling in there, taking pages between lips, rubbing upper lip across them, nostrils twin jets of air as it seeks sweetness maybe...

Smoking hot bodies

Non-fictionSince 2013, South Korea has mandated the use of compost bins for uneaten food and the country now recycles an estimated 95 per cent of its food waste. Similar schemes exist in Europe and North America, and in June, Nevada became the seventh American state – after Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California and New York – to legalise human composting. Known as ‘terramation’ or ‘natural organic reduction’, the process entails a certified undertaker placing the cadaver beneath woodchips, lucerne and straw in a reusable box, where, with the controlled addition of heat and oxygen, it decomposes within eight weeks.

Where the wild things aren’t

Non-fictionMelbourne Zoo knows that it sits in an uneasy position as a conservationist advocate, still keeping animals in cages, and with an exploitative and cruel past. Our guides for the evening walked a practised line between acknowledging the zoo’s harmful history and championing its animal welfare programs, from the native endangered species they’re saving to their Marine Response Unit, a dedicated seaside taskforce just waiting for their sentimental action movie.

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.