Ocean Beach, Otago

Shark nets have been deployed one kilometre out from the beach every summer since 1970,[4] making this a safe swimming area.

The western end of Saint Clair Beach was marked for over a century by a series of old wooden posts, the remains of an old breakwater groyne.

This is backed by a series of high dunes topped by a walkway linking Saint Clair Esplanade with the Sir James Barnes Lookout, which offers views across south Dunedin from above Forbury Park Raceway.

In recent years the dunes have been subject to severe erosion, and measures have been taken by the Dunedin City Council to reinforce them.

A 2015 fibreglass statue by Bryn Jones of Mum, a sea lion who repopulated the species along the Otago coast, is located at the east end of St Clair Esplanade, overlooking the tree cover near the promenade.

Ocean Beach from the western end of Saint Clair Esplanade.
Saint Clair Beach. The salt-water pool is visible at top right.
Looking past the posts at the end of Saint Clair Beach towards Saint Kilda. The dunes behind Middle Beach are clearly shown. Stormy seas in the early years of the 21st century reduced and finally removed the last remaining posts.
Statue of Mum by Bryn Jones, St Clair Esplanade