August 2023 (ROTM#176) Little Diggers Beach, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia

This is a fantastic image courtesy of Nearmap, which provides high-resolution aerial imagery for much of Australia’s coastline and I’m fortunate to be able to access this imagery through the UNSW Sydney Library which has a subscription. The detail of these images is incredible and while it’s not a view of the beach that you would actually see when on the beach, it shows some great examples of what we call ‘boundary rip currents’.

Little Diggers Beach is located in the Coffs Harbour region of New South Wales and has been the site of some rip current related drownings over the years. It’s not hard to see why – the beach does not have lifeguards and there are boundary rip currents flowing offshore against the headland at the top of the beach (north end) and on both sides of the rock promontory at the south end of the beach.

Boundary rip currents flow adjacent to any physical structure, be it natural or anthropogenic (like a groyne or pier) and are almost permanent features. They also tend to flow faster and further offshore than rips along the beach and also carve out deeper channels. It’s very important to avoid swimming against headlands, rocks or any structures along the beach.

This beach is dominated by rips along the rocks. Not much room for error.