STRANDED selfie-seeking tourists are behind a rise in the number of lifeguard rescues at the southern end of Lake Macquarie's coastline on NSW's north coast this past season, the council says.
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Following the conclusion of the beach lifeguarding season on Sunday, the council issued a media release on Monday saying its lifeguards had been called to numerous challenging rescues to the south of Catherine Hill Bay over the past six months.
"We've had quite a few tourists venturing to out-of-the-way locations in search of the ultimate selfie, only to be stranded by rough conditions and incoming tides," Lake Macquarie City Council beach lifeguards team leader Danny Napper said.
"The caves and inlets along our coast are certainly beautiful and a wonderful natural attraction for visitors. But when conditions are rough or the tide is high, people need to consider the risks."
Mr Napper said one of the season's most dramatic rescues involved two lifeguards rushing to the aid of six visitors stranded in a cave north of Frazer Park.
"Our guys did a fantastic job. The conditions were pretty messy but they got all six out of there without incident, which is a credit to our lifeguards' skills," he said.
The picturesque caves are appealing but present far greater danger than visitors often first think. That section of the coast, near the Lake Macquarie and Central Coast council area border, is isolated.
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In 2019, Surf Life Saving NSW and National Parks issued a warning to people visiting Snapper Point in the Munmorah State Conservation Area to stay out of the caves.
"It's a very, very inviting area to go to," Surf Life Saving Central Coast chairman Stuart Harvey said.
"It's calm from the outside but you swim in there and it's pretty scary.
"It can be treacherous and the conditions can change very fast. If you have any doubt, you can start to panic pretty quickly."
Lake Macquarie council said an estimated 865,000 people had visited the four beaches it patrols this season, down on the 1.2 million welcomed during the 2019-20 season.
Mr Napper said Redhead remained the most popular, attracting more than 350,000 people, but visitation numbers at the southern beaches were catching up.
"We had anticipated the busiest season for years due to COVID travel restrictions, but wet weather over Christmas had a significant impact on numbers," Mr Napper said.
"The peaks in crowd numbers at Caves Beach seem to be occurring more regularly, and I think part of that can be attributed to people from Sydney discovering it's not too far to travel for the day or weekend.
"People haven't been able to travel overseas and they're discovering reasonably local places they want to explore and enjoy."
Crowd counting is aided by cameras at Blacksmiths and Redhead that can track attendance. Lifeguard patrols will re-commence at Redhead, Swansea, Caves and Catherine Hill Bay beaches in the September/October school holidays.
