Fossil, I'll try and dig up some old photos of the big swells that come into Sydney Harbour
between North Head and South Head. The ferries they use these days are nowhere near as seaworthy
as the old ones and the harbor authorities shut the Manly to Sydney service off if the swell goes above ten feet
due to all the safety regulations that are now in place.

But no exaggeration my friend, the swells can get even bigger than that sometimes, mainly
when the Christmas king tides happen in late December and also in our winter, around July / August.

Because the harbour entrance is approx 1.2 kms wide plus fairly shallow and when the ocean ground swell is at the right angle,
the waves will jack up in size as they come through the heads but the harbor itself then goes
deep very quickly, so the waves rarely break like a wave on the coast, though there have been some exceptions
on the bigger swells.

It used be to a popular family attraction on the school holidays, to go on a ferry trip when the swell was big.
And hearing everybody screaming and cheering as the ferry passed by the heads, it was awesome!
You also used to be able to sit outside on the bow (if you dared) and get saturated by the waves. Sadly those days are no more.

There are plenty of classic pics but because they were all taken many years ago I think
most of them wouldn't have been converted to digital. I'll have a look.