Chowder Bay pool

There are swimming pools, and there are Sydney swimming pools. The former are rectangular, manmade, chlorine scented and usually a remarkable shade of blue. The latter are variously built structures for capturing the sea in such a way as to allow safe, enjoyable sea swimming for people of all ages — and also often a remarkable shade of blue.
Chowder Bay — named by early American sailors who anchored there and made clam chowder from rock oysters harvested along its rocky shore — is off Clifton Gardens, between Chowder Head and Middle Head. It has a colourful history — illustrated by its titillating title of the ‘pleasure grounds’ that dates to the mid 1950s. Today’s remnant is the jetty, which stretches out into the bay, enclosing a pool with a shark net, making the quiet corner a safe swimming hole. It’s now very popular with kids, who love to jump or dive from the jetty. I’m not entirely confident of the shark net, which is riddled with holes, but then plenty of people swim in the harbour with no net at all, and attacks are very, very rare. The net does though provide a safe haven for the Chowder Bay seahorse, which draws lots of divers but can also be seen by regular swimmers with less equipment.