The Crescent: a secret turquoise rockpool hiding among a mass of craggy rocks beneath a towering cliff wall.
You have a view over Back Beach with its gigantic sweep of golden sand, however, nobody on the beach can see you. It’s your own private swimming pool, with clear water and a sandy bottom. Finding it was a truly unexpected delight.
We’d been lucky enough to visit several amazing rockpools in the area and didn’t think our little recce along the beach would provide anything that could compete until we saw The Crescent!
Here’s everything you need to know to plan your visit.
Safety info: tide & swell
The Crescent is best visited a couple of hours either side of low tide and when the swell is marked as slight, and the lower the swell, the better.
Though the rockpool is perched on the rock shelf quite far above the ocean, the route to it is exposed to the waves and that’s why you need the right conditions to visit safely.
Even on a slight swell, rogue waves could enter the pool, but the risk is significantly reduced and we personally didn’t experience any waves entering the pool at all at the time. You can see the tide and swell forecast here.
The stats
Distance: 950m each way
Elevation gain: 50m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trailhead: Back Beach Access Car Park
Summary: Roughly 2/3 of the walk to The Crescent is along the beach, with the final third being along rocks. This is not a rock shelf, but a series of rocks to clamber up, over and across.
There are some minor scrambles involved and a little section where you traverse along a narrow rock spine.
However, I am not the best at scrambling and found the route to be ok as long as you were careful with footing. Only one section had a small amount of exposure, but it was very short.
If you’re a rockpool connoisseur I would say it’s perhaps most similar to the rocky section at Forster’s Fairy Pool, but a touch more challenging, while still not being hard.
I usually think if I can manage without a helping hand from Joe, most people will find it ok too!
This is also predicated on you attempting it only in the two hour window either side of low tide and when the swell is slight. You don’t want to get caught on the rocks with big waves.
The walk
From the Back Beach car park (full parking details below) you follow the path down to the beach. Once on the sand head left (north) and walk along the beach for 600m towards the rocks.
It’s easiest to walk first along the grassy area beside all the small rocks for 50m (until it runs out) and you then have to walk along the larger rocks. From the beach, walk through the sandy path between the rocks to where the trail heads uphill. Once you reach the grass, head right.
From here you have roughly 250m of rock hopping/scrambling to reach the rockpool and you won’t see it until you are right beside it.
Everyone will take a slightly different route as there is no path.
At first it’s basically clambering up and over some rock spines. In dry conditions, they have good hand and foot placements, and the rock is very grippy.
There’s a little pebbly section and then it’s back to the rock spines again.
After around 50m you need to climb down a couple of rocks and then round the corner.
After this you have the narrow rock spine which I nicknamed Crib Goch, if you know Crib Goch you will laugh, but probably also see where I was coming from.
It’s not, I hasten to add, scary like Crib Goch, but it is a narrow spine you walk along, just minus the exposure, which is everything when it comes to the fear factor!
You will then reach a set of larger rocks you need to manoeuvre around. There are good footholds (and handholds) but you have to move around the outside of a large rock which might feel a touch exposed for a few steps.
Joe had gone ahead and then came back to tell me I wouldn’t like this section so I was quite wary, but honestly the footholds were really good and it didn’t feel uncomfortable, so it’s worth noting, but nothing to be overly concerned about. Though, again, if there were waves coming anywhere close to this section I would have turned around.
You’ll then come to a very shallow rockpool you need to cross. You could try and keep dry shoes, but the exposed rocks looked a little slippery, so we opted for wet boots to get to the other side.
The exit also had a little weed on it, so it can be a touch slippery.
After that you have some easy walking along the rocks, avoiding numerous puddles if you can and you’ll arrive at the rockpool after 80m. You won’t see it until you’re really close as the pool is hidden perfectly by the surrounding rocks.
Swimming at the rockpool
The Crescent is a picture perfect rockpool with turquoise water and a sandy bottom. Despite being surrounded by some pretty imposing rock walls it retains the sun late into the afternoon.
It’s elevated position means there is almost no chance of waves entering the pool on a slight swell (though you can never say no chance!).
You can see a sliver of Back Beach from inside the pool which adds to the feeling that you’re in a little secret spot, where you can see the beach, but no one on the beach can see you.
The pool is deep enough to swim its full length, but you can still stand up in half of it, so it’s great whether you like deep water or not.
In essence, it’s a pretty fabulous rockpool that immediately made it on to our favourites in NSW list.
Just make sure it doesn’t lull you into such a state of relaxation that time ebbs away and you get caught out with the tides when crossing back to the main beach!
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the area, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Please remember to wear reef safe sunscreen to protect the marine life inside the pool.
Parking for The Crescent Rockpool
The closest parking area is the Back Beach car park, around a 5 minute drive from Crescent Head, you can see it on Google maps here.
There are no facilities at the car park so please plan accordingly.
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