29-03-2026
First Big Swell Day 2026
Drove up to Coalcliff on the Sunday morning as the first big swells of the year had arrived on Friday. The view as you walk down to the pool has to be one of the best in Australia with the mountain truly meeting the sea
I always find it fascinating to see how much water moves around when a big swell coincides with a high tide. The best way I’ve found to demonstrate this through a photo is by showing the amount of water rushing past the handrails out of the various pools along the coast
I put on the long lens soon after arriving chasing some more detailed moments as opposed to the wide overview my first lens gives me. Managed a few images of waves just as they broke but it’s hard to show the full scale of these beasts without anything else in the frame
While watching the waves as some sun light burst through the clouds some birds flew through, straight between me and the sun rays. Luckily they swerved back and forth long enough for me to zoom in and find focus and take what is probably my favourite image of the morning
All of these were taken from the little undercover platform that sits just above the pool, I think at one stage there was six of us standing on that platform all shooting in different directions. Got to meet a fellow photographer that I’ve followed and spoken to on Instagram for a while now. Always nice to put a face to the name and images you see online. Sort of seen in the below photo as I shot the waves past her
One of the usual pool swimmers came down with his dog and while he managed to get himself in the pool, I was distracted by his gentlemanly little fella.
When I got back to the car a cockatoo flew straight past my head and landed on the bins and proceeded to attempt to pry them open, they really are smart little buggers. In this photo you can just see the glow of the red bin lid on its underside, I took a few other photos but they just don’t look clean where you can see the bin lid (no pun intended)
Driving home I figured I may as well make a couple of stops along the way. First stop was the Seacliff Bridge, watching the waves break from up there was amazing, the sets rolled in big and often
Next stop was Wombarra, such a cool place to watch when the swell picks up. the waves smash against the rock shelf and then inundate the pool and surrounding area. This would prove to be my last stop cause by this stage I was starving and I couldn’t wait for breakfast any longer
As always don’t forget to check out the rest of the
images from the morning in the gallery below
