The Nuns Pool, once called the Chain Baths, is a small, sheltered bathing pool in a cove below the lighthouse at Flagstaff Point, Wollongong, reached by a narrow path cut into the sandstone. It is free and one of the oldest bathing spots in NSW.
Key facts
- Type
- Rock pool
- Facilities and access
- Narrow path cut into sandstone below the lighthouse
- Cost
- Free
- Lifeguards
- No
- Best time to go
- Calm days, mid to high tide
- Water quality
- GoodNorth Wollongong Beach, 0.4 km away. Sampled 24 Oct. Source: NSW Beachwatch.
- Town
- Wollongong, NSW
What it's like
The pool sits in a tiny cove beneath the headland and lighthouse, protected from most swell, with sandstone walls around it. It is small and quiet, a place for a dip rather than laps.
It was first known as the Chain Baths. In the early 1900s nuns from a nearby convent school brought girls here to swim, and the name Nuns Pool stuck. Some local accounts date bathing here back to the 1830s, which would make it one of the first ocean bathing places in the state.
When to go
Calm days at mid to high tide. In a big easterly swell the path and pool can be washed by waves.
Getting there and facilities
Walk out towards the lighthouse at Flagstaff Point from Wollongong Harbour and Belmore Basin, then take the narrow path cut into the rock down to the cove. There are no facilities at the pool; toilets and cafes are around the harbour.
Good to know
The path is narrow and slippery, so it is not suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet. There are no lifeguards.