Bundaberg Port Marina

About the marina

Bundaberg Port Marina sits at Burnett Heads, one nautical mile inside the mouth of the Burnett River, and holds a distinction few Australian marinas can claim: it is an official Port of Entry that, by its own long-standing count, clears more international yachts into Australia than any other east coast facility. Each October and November the pontoons fill with rally fleets arriving from New Caledonia, Vanuatu and the south-west Pacific, around twenty yachts in a typical season with the Go West Rally alone, crews stepping ashore after ocean passages into a complex of landscaped lawns, a licensed restaurant, a chandlery and a working boatyard. Whale watching, wreck diving and the Mon Repos turtle rookery fill the calendar ashore. The marina's 180 floating berths take vessels to 45 metres, and its position behind an all-weather, all-tide deep-water entrance has made it the default first landfall for boats bound for the southern Great Barrier Reef or seeking a cyclone-season bolt hole with serious trades on hand. It is equally a tourism working harbour: the Lady Musgrave Experience day boats depart from here for the coral lagoon of Lady Musgrave Island, and the complex books reef, rum distillery and turtle tours from its own office. The result is a rare hybrid, part customs port, part shipyard, part resort-style marina, run by a family operation that has been expanding since the 1990s and now includes one of the largest dry storage yards on the east coast. Bundaberg's city centre lies about 15 minutes upriver by road, close enough for provisioning runs yet far enough that the marina keeps its own working-harbour rhythm.

Berthing & shoreside services

Berthing runs to 180 floating pens for vessels up to 45 metres, every berth wired with power, water and wi-fi, with casual, permanent and liveaboard arrangements available. Refuelling works around the clock: the diesel dock is self-serve 24/7, and premium unleaded is supplied during business hours by prior arrangement. As a Port of Entry, the marina handles Australian Border Force and biosecurity clearance; vessels give at least 96 hours notice, fly the Q flag on arrival and clear at the wharf on the landward side of the refuelling berth, with the marina monitoring VHF 81. The boatyard is the serious half of the operation. A 75-tonne travel lift hauls vessels to a 6.6-metre beam onto a concrete hardstand with about 100 yard and dry storage sites, supported by high-pressure cleaning, fully enclosed spray and blast bays, antifouling, resprays, PropSpeed and insurance repair work. Onsite trades cover diesel mechanics, shipwrights, engineering, sail repair and surveying, and owners may do their own work or hand jobs to management. The fenced dry storage compound, locked nightly under CCTV with vessels pinned and tied down through summer, keeps cruising boats secure while owners fly home, though living aboard or working in that yard is not permitted. Around the complex: Captains Chandlery with GST-free sales for eligible international yachts, Baltimore Cafe Restaurant and Captains Catch takeaway open seven days, Port Marina Gifts, a tour booking office, coin laundry, showers, LPG refills, ice, bait and a courtesy bus into Bundaberg on weekdays and to the Sunday markets. The marina is pet friendly and its office opens seven days.

Local context in YouSail

This is directory context, not navigation advice. Check current charts, notices and official boating resources before passage.

The approach is as easy as Queensland coast sailing offers. The Burnett River entrance at Burnett Heads is a trained, lit, deep-water lead workable day or night in all weather, with three metres or more at low water inside, and the marina lies a mile up on the northern bank. International arrivals treat it as a soft landing: cruiser-friendly customs and quarantine officers, a mail and provisioning routine sorted within a day, and an active sailing community happy to advise on the next leg. Cruising options radiate in every direction. Lady Musgrave Island's lagoon and the southern reef cays lie offshore for day trips or careful private visits, the Burnett River offers sheltered upriver anchorages, and K'gari and the Great Sandy Strait wait to the south for boats heading down the coast. Ashore, the courtesy bus connects to Bundaberg's supermarkets, chandleries and services; the Bundaberg Rum distillery, the Botanic Gardens and the Hinkler aviation museum fill rainy days, and from November to March Mon Repos beach, a short drive away, hosts nesting and hatching turtles with ranger-guided viewing. Burnett Heads itself has a pub, shops, a boat ramp near the lighthouse and a foreshore walk out to the river entrance. Practical notes from regulars: cyclone season sees the dry storage and hardstand book out early, the yard allows DIY which keeps costs honest, and southbound boats often wait here for a weather window past the Wide Bay bar. For a working port marina, the lawns, restaurant and gift shop make crew life unusually comfortable.