At Governor Head the shoreline turns and trends south for 7 km to 140 m high Steamer Head. In between is 9 km of 50-100 m high sandstone cliffs, with the only access to the shore at Stony Creek and its sheltered tidal rock pool. Steamers Beach (NSW 439) is located to the lee of Steamers Head. The beach curves to the west for 700 m, where it is bordered by steep vegetated slopes rising to 130 m, with steep rocky shore then extending for 4 km southwest to St Georges Head. The beach faces due south exposing it all south swell, which averages 1.5 m. The waves combine with the medium, yellow shell-rich sand to maintain a steep beach fronted by a central rock reef and three strong permanent rips, one by the reef and two against the rocks at each end, together with an occasional western beach rip (Fig. 4.338). There is a low foredune, then steep densely vegetated slopes rise to over 100 m behind the beach. Most of the slopes are covered in early Holocene transgressive dunes, that blew as far north as Murrays Beach, but are now well vegetated, apart from one small patch in the valley at the eastern end of the beach, where dune calcarenite is exposed. This is an isolated, hazardous beach unsuitable for swimming. It can only be reached on foot from the Steamers Beach car park, 2 km to the north, the track descending steeply to the western end of the beach.
Beach Length: 0.6km
Patrols
There are currently no services provided by Surf Life Saving Australia for this beach. Please take the time to browse the Surf Safety section of this website to learn more about staying safe when swimming at Australian beaches.
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SLSA provides this information as a guide only. Surf conditions are variable and therefore this information should not be relied upon as a substitute for observation of local conditions and an understanding of your abilities in the surf. SLSA reminds you to always swim between the red and yellow flags and never swim at unpatrolled beaches. SLSA takes all care and responsibility for any translation but it cannot guarantee that all translations will be accurate.