Bulgo Pool is a small rock pool cut into the rock platform beyond the shack village at Bulgo Beach, in the southern Royal National Park near Otford. Built by the shack community in the 1930s, it is reached only on foot, with no facilities.
Key facts
- Type
- Rock pool
- Good to know
- Kids area
- Facilities and access
- No facilities at the beach; train to Otford then about 500 m to the cliff path down to Bulgo Beach
- Cost
- Free
- Lifeguards
- No
- Public transport
- Otford station, then about 25 minutes' walk down
- Best time to go
- Low to mid tide on a calm day
- Water quality
- GoodStanwell Park Beach, 2.6 km away. Sampled 12 Oct. Source: NSW Beachwatch.
- Town
- Otford, NSW
What it's like
Bulgo Beach is one of the few shack villages left inside the Royal National Park, a cluster of heritage-listed fishing shacks below the cliffs. The pool is cut into the rock platform south of the shacks. It was made in the 1930s by the shack community as a safe place for children to swim and to keep the day's catch alive, and was blasted out larger in the 1960s.
It is a pool for the adventurous: remote, unpatrolled and with the open sea right beside it.
When to go
Low to mid tide on a calm day, when the rock shelf is safest to walk on and waves are not washing into the pool. Allow time for the walk back up the cliff.
Getting there and facilities
Take the train to Otford, or park in Otford, then walk to the cliff track near Otford Lookout, across the road from the Otford Pantry. The walk down to Bulgo Beach takes about 25 minutes. From the beach, walk south past the shacks and along the rock shelf to the pool. There are no toilets, water or shops at the beach; the nearest are in Otford.
Good to know
The shacks are private, so keep to the track and the beach. There are no lifeguards, and the rock shelf is exposed to waves.