Bermagui Blue Pool

The Blue Pool sits at the foot of a low cliff on the southern edge of Bermagui, an ocean pool blasted and built into the rock platform in the 1930s so that swimmers could use the sea without facing the surf. Waves wash over the seaward wall at high tide and on a swell, refilling and flushing it, and the water sits deep enough at one end for jumping. Fish and octopus turn up inside, brought in by the tide. Stairs run down the cliff from a small car park above, and the view along the coast is the reason many people come without swimming at all. It is free, unpatrolled and open to whatever the sea is doing.

What you actually see

• The pool in the rock - the tidal ocean pool cut into the shore platform.
• The wave overtopping - swell washing over the seaward wall on a big tide.
• The marine life - fish and octopus washed in and living in the pool.
• The clifftop view - the Sapphire Coast running north and south.

When to go

December to April, when the water is warmest; the pool is exposed and cold outside summer. Low to mid tide is safest for swimming, since high tide and swell send waves across the pool. Mornings are calmest.

Honest expectations

The pool is unpatrolled and there are no facilities beyond stairs and a car park. On a swell it becomes genuinely dangerous, with waves washing swimmers against the walls. The stairs are steep, and the pool is small enough to be crowded on a hot day.

Nearby

Bermagui town and harbour are minutes away; Central Tilba lies north.