Not so long ago, Snapper Rocks would have been a rather ordinary Gold Coast point break surviving in the shadow of it's celebrated cousin Kirra. Actually it had been better known being a fishing position (hence the name) than it was to be a surf break.
Nonetheless, on April 1995 the Tweed River Entry Sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) began pumping sand out of the river mouth and dumping it just east of Snapper Rocks. Very quickly an excellent sand bank had established in Rainbow Bay and when the swells began reaching, local surfers realised that they had one of many world's longest, and most consistent point breaks on the front doorstep.
One particular wave along at the The Superbank has apparently been ridden for a distance of 1.97 km, completely from Snapper Rocks to Kirra, although with this to occur on a single wave is extremely unusual.
Recently the Snapper Rocks superbank is probably the most populated wave in Australia, but on any given day you'll see among the best surfers on the earth tearing it up like there's really no tomorrow. When the swell and wind combine together, it is possible to ride the wave down to Kirra - approximately a kilometre away, and for the lucky few who manage such a ride, it's a individual portion of surfing heritage. The sheer excellence of the man-made wave has tremendously increased the level of surf tourism in the region, which has also resulted in extreme crowding of the wave. On a good day, anything up to 200 surfers can be counted over the 2 km distance, with multiple drop-ins, and an aggressive atmosphere.
In 1956 Jack Evans built the Snapper Rocks Sea Baths, with an adjacent shark pool for public viewing. Later that year the Boyd brothers, local fishermen, caught two bottlenose dolphins in the Terranora Creek which Evans took and put in the pool for the Jack Evans Porpoise Show (which moved around to Duranbah in 1961). Only remnants of the pools remain today.
Nonetheless, on April 1995 the Tweed River Entry Sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) began pumping sand out of the river mouth and dumping it just east of Snapper Rocks. Very quickly an excellent sand bank had established in Rainbow Bay and when the swells began reaching, local surfers realised that they had one of many world's longest, and most consistent point breaks on the front doorstep.
One particular wave along at the The Superbank has apparently been ridden for a distance of 1.97 km, completely from Snapper Rocks to Kirra, although with this to occur on a single wave is extremely unusual.
Recently the Snapper Rocks superbank is probably the most populated wave in Australia, but on any given day you'll see among the best surfers on the earth tearing it up like there's really no tomorrow. When the swell and wind combine together, it is possible to ride the wave down to Kirra - approximately a kilometre away, and for the lucky few who manage such a ride, it's a individual portion of surfing heritage. The sheer excellence of the man-made wave has tremendously increased the level of surf tourism in the region, which has also resulted in extreme crowding of the wave. On a good day, anything up to 200 surfers can be counted over the 2 km distance, with multiple drop-ins, and an aggressive atmosphere.
In 1956 Jack Evans built the Snapper Rocks Sea Baths, with an adjacent shark pool for public viewing. Later that year the Boyd brothers, local fishermen, caught two bottlenose dolphins in the Terranora Creek which Evans took and put in the pool for the Jack Evans Porpoise Show (which moved around to Duranbah in 1961). Only remnants of the pools remain today.
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