A 90-minute International Women’s Day harbour cruise departing Aquarium Wharf, Darling Harbour on Friday 6 March 2026 will bring together world-record adventurers, leading marine scientists and elite athletes for two panel conversations focused on ocean restoration, climate action and the intersection of sport and advocacy.
The Women Making Waves cruise forms part of the sixth annual Ocean Lovers Festival, Australia’s largest cultural and science celebration of the ocean. Organisers will run the event from 10am to 11:30am aboard a Fantasea Cruising vessel, delivering it in collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Surfrider Foundation Australia and Surfers for Climate. Tickets are $45 for adults, $5 for children, and free for children under four, inclusive of morning tea, a celebratory toast from wine partner The Hidden Sea, and both panel discussions.
Who Is Speaking
The cruise features a panel of speakers across ocean adventure, marine science and climate advocacy, hosted by Jessi Miley-Dyer, a former World Junior Champion surfer, former Commissioner of the World Surf League and a board member of Surfrider Foundation Australia.
World-record adventurers Lisa Blair OAM and Wendy Tuck join the panel. Blair is the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antarctica. Tuck is the first woman to win an around-the-world yacht race. Both are advocates for ocean health.
The scientific contingent includes three multi-award-winning ecologists: Professor Melanie Bishop, Professor Adriana Vergés and Associate Professor Mariana Mayer-Pinto. All three lead active restoration projects including Living Seawalls and Operation Crayweed, both of which aim to repair marine ecosystems in Sydney Harbour. Guests on the cruise will view some of these projects directly from the water during the voyage.
Completing the panel are marine scientist and Netflix personality Aliah Banchik, a global specialist in shark and ray conservation, and professional longboard surfer Tully White, who works with Surfers for Climate on climate advocacy and community action.
Why This Event Matters for Darling Harbour
The Women Making Waves cruise connects Darling Harbour audiences directly with the scientists and advocates driving real restoration work in Sydney Harbour. In 2025, 93 per cent of Ocean Lovers Festival attendees said the event inspired them to take positive action, 80 per cent said they learnt something new about the ocean, and the festival recorded a significant increase in participation in citizen science and ocean activities. The cruise format, moving through active restoration sites while hearing from the researchers working on them, offers a direct and tangible link between what speakers describe and what guests can see from the deck.
For Darling Harbour residents, the event also provides access to a calibre of expertise that rarely sits in one room. The combination of extreme ocean adventurers, working research scientists and professional athletes with active advocacy roles gives attendees a broad picture of how ocean health connects to sport, career, community and daily life in a coastal city.
Organisers created the Ocean Lovers Festival to celebrate Sydney’s connection to the ocean and deepen understanding of why a healthy blue planet matters, making ocean science accessible, inspiring and fun through shared experiences, creativity and hands-on activities. The Women Making Waves cruise anchors the broader month-long program as its flagship ticketed event.
About the Ocean Lovers Festival
Founded in Bondi in 2019, the Ocean Lovers Festival has grown into Australia’s premier ocean-themed cultural and science event, now a month-long celebration across Sydney showcasing ocean protection, innovation, art and action. The 2026 festival runs throughout March under the theme Dive into Discovery and Wonder, with the entire Ocean Lovers Talks programme live-streamed and supported by Inspiring Australia, making panel talks from scientists, adventurers and ocean experts accessible to audiences nationwide.
Event Details and Tickets
The Women Making Waves International Women’s Day Harbour Cruise departs Aquarium Wharf, Darling Harbour at 10am on Friday 6 March 2026 and returns at 11:30am. The cruise is hosted by Fantasea Cruising through sustainable water transport partner NRMA Marine. Tickets and full programme information are available here.
Published 3-March-2026.
