Sydney Harbour has more than 240 kilometres of shoreline, and the difference between a good day on the water and a great one usually comes down to where you drop the anchor. Here are the bays we come back to, what each one is good for, and when to get there.
Athol Bay
The postcard. Tucked below Taronga Zoo on the north shore, Athol Bay looks straight back at the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, which makes it the most photographed lunch spot in the city for good reason.
Best for: long lunches, birthdays, sunset drinks, any occasion where the backdrop matters.
Watch out for: it fills up fast on summer weekends and it can get bouncy when the afternoon nor-easter and the ferry wash arrive together. Arrive before 11am and you will have your pick.
Clifton Gardens (Chowder Bay)
A wide, sheltered bay with a netted swimming enclosure, a beach, shade trees and a wharf. It is the family favourite and the safest swim on the harbour.
Best for: swimming with kids, a relaxed anchor-and-BBQ day, the lilypad and trampoline off the back.
Watch out for: popular, so anchor wide and leave room. Respect the swimming enclosure boundaries.
Store Beach
Accessible only by water, on the North Head side near Manly. Golden sand, clear water and no road, which is exactly why it feels like a private island fifteen minutes from the city.
Best for: snorkelling, Seabobs, a genuinely secluded swim.
Watch out for: it sits inside Sydney Harbour National Park and it is a little penguin habitat, so landing access is restricted at certain times and after sunset. Check current NPWS conditions, and if you are chartering, your skipper will already know.
Camp Cove and Watsons Bay
Right near the Heads, with the sheltered swimming at Camp Cove and Watsons Bay a short hop away for a plate of fish and chips. A brilliant combination when you want a bit of shore time.
Best for: a swim plus lunch ashore, an early stop on a whale watching run out through the Heads.
Watch out for: exposed to any easterly swell coming through the Heads, and ferry traffic at the Watsons Bay wharf.
Parsley Bay
A small, deep, protected notch in Vaucluse with a footbridge over the top and a netted swim area. Quieter than the marquee bays and beautifully calm.
Best for: a peaceful anchor, a short swim, a nap on the sunpads.
Watch out for: limited room, so it is a first-in-best-dressed bay.
Chinamans Beach and Middle Harbour
Head north under the Spit and Middle Harbour opens up: Chinamans Beach, Sugarloaf Bay and Bantry Bay, all bush-lined and dramatically quieter than the main harbour. Bantry Bay in particular feels like national park because it is.
Best for: escaping the crowds, overnight stays, fishing, a full day where nobody wants to see a skyline.
Watch out for: the Spit Bridge only opens at set times, so plan the run around the schedule. This is where a longer 6 or 8-hour booking pays for itself.
Rose Bay and Shark Island
Rose Bay is broad, easy and central with a seaplane base for entertainment. Shark Island, just off it, is one of the prettiest spots on the harbour - a national park island with lawns and picnic shelters, and landing there requires a NPWS permit booked in advance.
Best for: a picnic with a plan, group celebrations where the island is booked ahead.
Watch out for: exposed to the nor-easter in the afternoon; the permit is not optional.
How to pick a bay on the day
- Follow the wind. Sydney's summer nor-easter usually kicks in around lunchtime. North-facing bays get choppy, south-facing bays stay glassy. Athol Bay in the morning, Middle Harbour in the afternoon is a classic sequence.
- Think about swell. An easterly swell pushes right through the Heads, so on those days stay west of Bradleys Head.
- Leave swing room. Anchor with enough chain out, then check what you would hit if the wind turned you 180 degrees.
- Mind the seagrass. Parts of the harbour have protected seagrass beds where anchoring is not permitted. Sandy patches only.
- Watch the clock, not the sunset. Allow a proper run home. Sydney Harbour at dusk is glorious, but it is busy and it gets dark faster than people expect.
See them for yourself
On a two-hour booking you will pick one bay. On four hours you can do two comfortably. On six or eight, the whole harbour and Middle Harbour are yours, and that is when the big anchorage days happen.
Bring your licence and take the boat yourself with self-drive hire, or book a skippered charter and let a captain who knows every one of these bays choose the right one for the conditions.
Written by Revelation Rentals