Coogee Beach (NSW 326) is located in Coogee Bay, a 400 m wide southeast-facing bay (Fig. 4.245), located 700 m to the lee of Wedding Cake Island, which substantially reduces waves at the beach. The beach curves around the base of the bay for 400 m and narrows from 120 m in the north to 50 m in the south. It is backed by a continuous seawall, park and promenade and the main road Arden Street. The lower waves maintain a relative steep reflective beach, with only a narrow attached bar forming during bigger seas, and rips usually absent. The beach has a rock pool on the northern platform, the Ross Jones pool on the southern rocks, with the Ladies Baths located 200 m further south. The Coogee SLSC (founded in 1907) is located above the southern end of the beach. All these facilities make Coogee the second most popular beach in the eastern suburbs, after Bondi. Its level of safety can be gauged by the fact that despite its popularity it averages only 35 rescues per year, at a low rate of 0.4 per thousand beach goers, the lowest on Sydney's southern beaches. The waves are usually low enough for the members of the Coogee Fishing Club to launch their dinghies or small boats from the northern end of the beach.
Coogee is one of the quieter patrolled beaches in the eastern suburbs. It usually has lower waves surging up the steep beach. Under higher wave and east swell conditions watch the shorebreak and rips against the headlands.
