When I headed out on Tuesday to test out what has been dubbed Sydney’s first city beach, or at least the first to open in 50 years west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I expected to be among only a few people there.
The ban on swimming at Barangaroo Reserve’s Marrinawi Cove – once part of an industrial maritime site and deemed too polluted for a quick dip – had lifted just the day before.
But the cove was already heaving with people, many lazing on towels in their cozzies or perched on the rocks that circle the small cove like worn seats around an ancient amphitheatre. Some were waiting their turn to use the newly installed showers to wash off the harbour water.
Below, in the small cove, children safely paddled on the half-submerged rocks at the edges of the cove and there were even a few snorkellers. The tip of the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s famous arch sat in the backdrop.
Before I took the plunge, I bent down to the water’s edge and asked one of the snorkellers if the shark net strung along the cove’s entrance had allayed his fears of spotting any dangerous creatures. The news of a fisherman reeling in a three-metre bull shark from the harbour on Sunday played on my mind.
“Definitely,” he said, adding he still managed to see some decent-sized fish below the surface.
I dived in, swam the short distance to the shark net and floated along the wake made by the passing boats and ferries, the crackle of their engines underwater a constant reminder I was swimming in a working harbour.
Would I swim here again? Sure, if I was in the area and had my swimmers handy. Or if I wanted to catch the train from where I live in the inner west (the cove is a 15-minute walk from Wynyard station) and spare myself the tedium of finding a car park at other popular Sydney beaches.
This improvement of access to swimming for a number of Sydneysiders is part of what makes Marrinawi Cove special, according to Yasmina Bonnet, who was part of the local community campaign that pushed for swimming to be allowed.
“Because of the location, it’s great for people living here, but also [for] tourists and workers in the CBD,” she says.
And this is just the beginning. As the New South Wales cities minister, Rob Stokes, said at the cove’s official opening (when he enthusiastically took a dip fully clothed), the new swim spot is thanks to efforts to recover waterways from pollution and its industrial past, but also thanks to a push to increase access to public places to swim.
A swimming spot in Pyrmont – once lined with abattoirs and factories – is likely to open next summer. There may soon also be a pool built along the foreshore in Glebe. Bayview Park on the Parramatta River also opened for swimming last year after being closed for five decades, while Chiswick now has the Chiswick baths and Cabarita has Cabarita beach.
I can’t wait to tick off more swimming spots closer to home that were once thought lost to pollution.
