That’s a wrap for 2019 – the last Aquabumps post for this year. Oh boy, a big year of travel. I’ve seen (and shot) so much! Hawaii, Exmouth, Ningaloo, Margs, Denmark, Esperance, Mentawais, Telos, Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Koh Samui, Milos, Croatia, New Caledonia…and Bondi of course. Bushfire Smoke, Pumping Surf, Sharks, Leopard Seals, Team Waves, […]

I’m back in the Big Smoke after a whirlwind shoot-out in Margs. It really is the big SMOKE today, as bushfires pollute our great city. Such a sad reminder of what is going on in NSW. Waves – yes! There’s a small, 2 foot, clean left breaking at South. Big morning swim crowd up early […]

I’m over here in the West (Margaret River) for a real quick fly-through and it’s hoooooot (40 yesterday!). I forgot how dry and brutal the heat can get in West Oz. Perfect beach weather. The surf was 4 foot, cross-shore with a bit of southerly. 3 guys out at main break (wow) …so many beaches […]

Not much chop down the beach this morning — onshore, cold (I wore a jumper) and dark with cloudy skies. The complete antithesis to the sunny skies and giant surf in Hawaii. Pipe is off today, and the Big Wave Comp is on at massive Jaws (Maui). From Our Gallery You’re probably frantically doing your […]

The surf was disappointing this morning. Junkie 1-2 foot and onshore. It even rained a tiny bit which was positive. Pretty average conditions forecast for the next few days (surfwise). Vogue and Instafamous Celeste Barber hosted a flash mob at Icebergs this morning, celebrating 60 years of Australian Vogue. Always something crazy going on down […]

Breathe. Breathe. That thick smoke has finally blown out of Sydney with an overnight gusty southerly. You can go back outside now. The southerly also brought some little wind waves. It’s not much to write about. Surfable, 2 foot, messy with a very short period. Small, southerly conditions for the rest of the week. Dark […]

Sydney is smothered in smoke. It’s everywhere you look/breathe this morning. Not complaining, as we’ve got it good. Those people out near the source of these fires would be living in such uncomfortable conditions. These NW winds are dragging it all down to Sydney from Gosford area. Pray for rain. Lots of it. Yesterday’s swell […]

I’m embarrassed to admit, I lost one of my memory cards from this morning shoot. Somewhere between the beach, skatepark, Bondi Beach Primary there’s a 64 gig SanDisk card floating around with my morning surfing shots. I still have SOME photos from another body, but the main bulk of the morning’s shoot has gone walkies. […]

It’s everywhere you look – brown smoke choking Sydney as 112 bushfires continue to rage around the state. Someone on TV last night said it was like smoking 40 winnie blues. Just imagine what it’s like if you were closer to the fires. There was chunks of ash in the water at Bondi today! Hats […]

Geez, it was nice down the beach this morning. Real purdy. The smoke had cleared a bit. The lack of wind created a nice, glassy surface. The swell has dropped a gear and 2 footers were pulsing into Bondi from the South. Crowds – yep, warm water and sunshine bring them out but it was […]

Oh boy, it’s another smokey start to the day. The sun looked like a million degrees thru a veneer of bushfire smoke. Waves, si si! We have a dramatic increase in swell this morning and I found water breaking over head high. It’s clean with a gentle offshore feathering. The water has even bumped up […]

It is the second day of summer and one of the coolest days in a while! Crazy. The smoke is back. You would’ve smelt it in the middle of the night and probably closed the windows. Really weird light and colours this morning as the atmosphere was filled with smoke. I didn’t quite know what […]

It’s black Friday. I bet you’re hoping we’re offering storewide discounts of 95% off, free shipping and a set of steak knives. Nah, sorry, not today. We’re predominantly a made-to-order business so we’ll leave those dramatic sale emails to the other retailers. My inbox is full of them! It was dark down the beach though. […]

Ah yes, a salubrious beach day. Can you smell the baby oil? If you’re at your desk reading my daily ramble, you’re in the wrong place. You need to go for a swim, ’cause it’s a bewty outside – max. 27 degrees. Waves – yeah yeah, so so. Dropped off heaps from yesterday. Dribbly 1ish, […]

The Icebergs was shut down this morning. It’s a crime scene, apparently, there was a break-in at 3 am last night – I was hoping they ran off with that freshly built ugly addition to the entrance! No luck there. Maybe just a few a kegs for thirsty backpackers? Who knows. Everyone was a little […]

After a night of thunderstorms and a tiny bit of rain, it’s all cleared up and a great morning for a swim. It will heat up to 31 degrees today, a hot one. Tonight let’s hope those rumbling thunderstorms actually bring a decent night of rain to help with our hazardous dry conditions. Swell is […]

Mondays are always so much quieter down the beach. Even though it was a perfect morning, there weren’t many people about. Swell looks more NE than from the South, and there’s a high tide dribble chugging into Bondi at sunrise. Logs, mini-mals, foamies would be the weapon of choice. Leave the short boards at home. […]

The smoke was still lingering at sunrise, but a fresh southerly came up and is currently it blowing it away. No talk of sharks, like yesterday. Me mate Andrej even saw one at 7pm last night so I think all that fish in the bay are bringing them in close. I have some very exciting […]

A thick smoke screen has smothered Sydney again this morning. I can’t imagine what it would be like up North where you’re actually IN the fires. This smoke is coming from a fire in the Hawkesbury region. Shark alarms were echoing in the bay at Bondi around 6:20am. Two dudes said they saw a 2-metre […]

It’s a much cooler day after the Southerly kicked in last night. The sky is full of clouds, but no sign of rain. No sign of smoke either. The water is a chilly 18 degrees and the waves are a messy waist-high. I didn’t see much quality around da ‘hood. If you’re reading Aquabumps I […]

A smokey blanket is suffocating Sydney today. It’s pretty bad. A bit like smoking a pack of durries before breakky. yuk! Yesterday, westerly winds blew the smoke into Sydney from a 140,000-hectare fire in the Hawkesbury region. The smoke was trapped around town overnight, as some weirdo inversion thingie between cold air and warm air. […]

Plagued by an early morning low tide, a Sou-Sou-East swell is still kicking into Bondi. I saw closeouts around 3 foot at sunrise. 1 pm is high tide, as it fills up there should be some waves around (yep, just looked across the road from AB headquarters, there are waves 10:59 am). Head high too! […]

Offshore – tick.Swell – tick. Plenty.Sunshine – plenty, but could do with some rain. (possible on Sunday)Banks – cross. No good. Really appealing conditions this morning. So many of the important ingredients to make Sydney crank. The banks seem to be a bit weird, Bondi was mostly closing out – Tama too. Bronte didn’t have […]

The suns out, the water is cool and the wind was a tad chilly – but it’s a good looking day in Sydney. A South swell is producing head high set waves, the early morning low tide seemed to hinder the sets. Incoming tides will flourish – I think. Have you seen URBN Surf‘s brand-spankin’ […]

You know it, always something going on down Bondi beach and this morning was no exception. Sir Richard Branson visited our shores at sunrise this morning. The last time I shot Sir Branson at Bondi was in 2004 when he was dangling out of a helicopter! (see AB post) Today was a lot more subdued […]

You can smell the smoke in the air today. I’ve never been so disappointed to wake up to a hot, summery day in Sydney. You all know it, we’re on catastrophic fire danger alert for the state. Catastrophic is the highest level of bush fire danger. With high temps, 600 schools closed and windy conditions […]

Nice little south swell supplying the bay with head high waves this morning. Plenty of bumps, just not a lot of good ones! It seemed very hit and miss down there. Nice sunny day, but I really would love to see rain, soon. I was up North on the weekend and could see huge amounts […]

It’s a warm one, again. Clear skies, gentles breezes and slightly more swell. Cooling change is arriving this weekend – phew – those fires up north need a reprieve. Hopefully, some rain will cool it all down. Bondi was fun this morning, oh so many people popping down for a swim. Waves should improve, a […]

This morning Sydney was engulfed by dusty haze. Yesterday’s strong winds kicked up the dust inland of Sydney, then a weather trough dragged the dust east to the coast, just in time for our sunrise. It’s a little different to our recent smoke screens, and you may get a few respiratory problems! Waves – what […]

Here’s a ‘summery’ of things you need to know about today: The day kicked off a little chilly, but it will beef up to a salubrious 26 degrees today. How do you like those apples? Even better, tomorrow will be another beach day with 28 degrees. Crank the baby oil. We have waves from the […]

It’s getting warmer and the beach is starting to get busy in the mornings. It’s amazing a what difference the seasons make. Winds were SW early, hopefully the water will warm up with the southerly – wow – it was cold over the weekend and I am just thawing out. Waves were tiny and dribbly. […]

That’s a wrap on our New Caledonia trip, I’m back in Bondi today. If you’re chasing blue water, damn, it’s Fluro blue in New Caledonia. I thought that colour water only existed in the Maldives. New Cal is much closer (2hrs40mins to be exact)! Watch this video summary of our time there… Watch New Cal […]

Whilst most of the New Caledonian population live in the main city of Noumea, the mind-blowing beaches and terrain are away from the centre. Today we flew across to the extremely chilled, authentic island of Ouvea. (only 30 mins away). Ouvea is famous for its fluorescent blue water. It reminded me of Formentera in Spain, […]

Bonjour from the glorious South Pacific! I’ve slipped up to New Caledonia for a few days to explore the island chain that has some of the largest lagoons in the world. Whilst their lagoons are vast, they’re pretty untouched. I flew 150kms in a heli this morning and reckon I spotted 1 fisherman and 1 […]

Yep, it’s gonna be a hot one. I’m talking a big thirty-3. It’s Friday and the beach was pretty crowded at sunrise. Smiles everywhere, but the water is still chilly. Waves have plummeted to only 1 foot, and the morning high tide was concealing any goodness. It’s a NE windswell from the recent blowing. Go […]

It transformed from a dark, cloudy morning to perfectly clear sunshine in a matter of minutes today. How good! Waves have dropped and there’s a NE wind swell in the mix after yesterday’s blow. Waves are waist high and suited to high volume surf vehicles. Ava good one, :: uge

The swell has backed off overnight and multiple banks had some rip bowls at Bondaka. It looked fun, lots of paddling against strong rips. A good looking day outside, 25 degrees on the forecast. Winds will swing from NW to NE later. Have a great day, :: uge

It started out as a stock standard, off the rack Bondi morning with clear skies, 3-4 foot closeouts and offshore breezes. The vibes a little different though, plenty more people down there in the morning doing their spring/summer rituals. The promenade was busy, the bootie camps 20% more participants, 24% more dog walkers – and […]

There’s heaps of chunk to the bump this morning. Wow, this new south swell is really drawing into Bondi hard. At sunrise, it was only 3-4 foot (when I shot), but I reckon there are 6-foot bombs out there now. The bigger ones are pretty much folding close (std Bondi). Amazing weather this week! 32 […]

Well hello, new south swell. It’s arrived with heaps of grunt. At 7:30 am today, Bondi was hosting well overhead high waves and clean offshores. That rip I’ve been talking about was complete madness – gushing out to sea at a rate of knots. Offshore for most of today, but a NE will blow late […]