Swimming Laps Outdoors in Sydney – My Very Favourite Places

So, this is the summer of sea swimming for me. It’s been decided.

I don’t quite know why but the notion has fixed itself firmly in my noddle.

I’ve enjoyed swimming all my life and would always have said – yes, even as a child in Bonnie, Chilly Scotland – that I loved sea swimming.

And Sydney excels. EXCELS, I tell you, when it comes to swimming laps outside.

Here are some of my favourite spots for swimming laps, and some others I need to visit very soon.

Avalon beach rock pool at southern end

Rock Pools of the Northern Beaches

Be still my beating heart. Some of these rock pools are just so stunning, extra so on a beautiful summer day in Sydney. These are glorious.

* This week I had a chilly spring swim at lovely Collaroy Rock Pool.

* Next week it could be Dee Why or South Curl Curl or Freshwater

* Or Queenscliff or North Curly or Avalon or….

* almost every ocean beach on the Northern Beaches has a rock pool, all of them fabulous for swimming laps.

Northbridge Baths: You can see one end of the lanes in the background there.

Harbour Beaches and Baths

Again, it’s a case of where to start.  Well, here are a few of my faves, starting from the north side.

* West Esplanade Manly has a shark netted area which is cool for laps

* The baths area at Balmoral Beach

* Northbridge Baths

* Greenwich Baths

* Dawn Fraser Pool

* Redcliffe Baths

Rockpools of the Eastern Suburbs

These are the ones I need to explore more.  It’s been a while since we spent much time over on the East, and I have never done laps in this rock pool at the south end of Bondi. But you’ll find me there one day soon.

* Must go back to Bronte Baths again this year

* Must get to Clovelly with fins, mask and snorkel

* Wylie’s Baths, it’s been years!

* The Women and Children’s baths

* and many more!

Photo from North Sydney Council website here.

And a final mention must go to the place I first learned to love doing laps in Sydney when I turfed up 25 years ago. The Olympic Pool at North Sydney.

It’s a truly magical spot. There is NOTHING like doing back crawl at night staring up at that so-beautiful bridge as you go. Makes swimming easy.

So expect lots of swimming at the beach posts from me this summer.

And why not read up on Sydney’s Best Beaches for Kids, my newest book, digital only, and for sale right here.

 Now then, who fancies meeting up for some laps one morning?

And where shall we go for a very hot coffee afterwards? 

Tagged as: beach, best posts, swimming pool