Daily beach report
Northern NSW Lifeguard co-ordinator Steve Leahy’s daily beach report:
Surf conditions picked up this afternoon and became quite dangerous. Here’s what happened on local lifeguard patrolled beaches today:
Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads: Lifeguards, lifesavers and police responded to Wategos Beach after several reports of a 2 metre shark menacing kayakers. The beach was closed for 40 minutes before the all-clear was given at 12.30pm. Off-duty Lifeguard Supervisor Mark Young was swimming with his family at Brunswick Heads earlier this afternoon when he saw a young child in serious distress and being swept out in a rip. Mark swam out to the girl and rescued her and, without any rescue equipment, swam her back to shore.
Lennox Head: The conditions deterred visitors to Lennox Head today and 20 people were advised to move back into the flags after they drifted outside them. The Lifeguard was called to a small fire in the dunes south of the Lennox Head clubhouse shortly after 3.30 pm. The Fire Brigade was called out to ensure the fire was extinguished properly. Lennox Beach was closed late this afternoon due to lightning in the area.
Shelly Beach, Ballina: The conditions saw a small crowd on the beach here today. Shelly Beach was closed late this afternoon due to the thunderstorms and lightning in the area.
Tomorrow’s Forecast: We’re going to see a day similar to today with afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Light to moderate south-east to north-east winds.
Ballina.Info reports: This morning there was a great whale-watching opportunity at Ballina, with whales sighted within a couple off hundred metres of the Shelly Beach rock platform.
The whales were inquisitive, as our picture (above) shows, checking out the Ballina-based whale-watching boat. What a great experience it must have been for those on the boat.
The picture was taken just after 8am from the Lighthouse Hill carpark. To give you an indication of how close in the whales were as they headed south, the picture was taken using a 300mm lens.
