Gladstone Marina

About the marina

Gladstone Marina is a port-authority marina operated by Gladstone Ports Corporation on the Auckland Point foreshore of Gladstone Harbour, inside the broad sheltered waters of Port Curtis. With capacity for around 320 vessels across floating berths, fixed wharf and pontoon moorings, it is the largest boating facility in central Queensland and one of the few Australian marinas run by the same corporation that manages a major coal and LNG export port. That dual identity shapes the place: supermax bulk carriers and LNG tankers move through the outer harbour while cruising yachts, charter boats and local fishing vessels share the marina basin, and the marina's position gives it a working-waterfront honesty that resort marinas lack. Gladstone is also sailing-famous as the finish line of the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race, run every Easter since 1949, when the fleet berths here and the foreshore turns into a regatta village. For cruising boats the marina's real significance is geographic. It is the southern jumping-off point for the Capricorn and Bunker groups of the Great Barrier Reef, with Heron Island, Lady Musgrave and Fitzroy Reef within passage range, and it is the last full-service port before the reef run north. The adjacent East Shores precinct and marina parklands have softened the foreshore in recent years, adding public lawns, a cafe and a waterside promenade alongside the pens. Berth holders are a mixed crowd of reef charter operators, Gladstone locals with weekend boats, and cruising yachts staging for the reef season, and the marina's scale means a 20-metre game boat and a 27-metre commercial vessel can be accommodated alongside the trailer-sailer fleet.

Berthing & shoreside services

The marina is a fully floating complex of concrete pontoons with generous manoeuvring room in each pen, rated by its operator as a four-star facility, and it caters to long-term private vessels, charter fleets and commercial service boats alike. Berth infrastructure includes wet pens from 8 to 27 metres, pile moorings in Auckland Inlet, swing moorings and four floating dry docks for vessels up to three tonnes, a distinctive offering for trailerable and small craft. Power is available to 63 amp three phase at berth, with 125 amp capacity flagged as coming soon, and water is supplied at the pens. Services on site include a sullage pump-out facility, oil and oil-filter disposal, fuel, ice and LPG gas refills, and general rubbish and recycling; an environmental levy covering regulated waste is built into mooring charges. The marina office, open seven days and contactable on 07 4976 1399 or VHF channel 82, administers a published schedule of rates with casual daily and weekly berthing charged per metre, and annual, six-monthly and monthly terms; indicative 2026-27 casual rates start around $46.50 a day for a 10-metre berth, and three hours of free loading and unloading is allowed on marina pontoons by booking. Insurance covering damage to other vessels, salvage and environmental damage is compulsory for all vessels, including transients, and live-aboard arrangements are available by application. An amenities access pass, $22 daily, covers vessels being lifted out in Gladstone. Commercial vessels have their own wharf and pontoon arrangements at the Fisherman's Base and Auckland Creek wharf, with crane and product-lift use built into weekly and longer commercial rates. The O'Connell Wharf pontoon and the public boat-ramp pontoon at the western end of the marina are reserved for launching and retrieving, with a 15-minute maximum stay unless the marina office agrees otherwise, and mooring refunds attract a $175 administration fee.

Local context in YouSail

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

Gladstone Harbour is a working port first, and skippers arriving from sea should monitor Gladstone Harbour VTS on VHF channel 13 and give shipping a wide berth in the main channel; the marina monitors channel 82. Tidal range in Port Curtis exceeds four metres on springs, and the harbour currents run hard enough to matter when berthing. The marina basin itself is well protected, and the operator notes that the combination of the basin design and the sheltered waters of Port Curtis allows safe mooring even in poor weather. Cruising boats bound for the reef use Gladstone as their provisioning port: the city centre with supermarkets and marine suppliers is a short taxi ride away, the Compleat Angler tackle store in town arranges secure parking for Heron Island-bound boats, and Auckland Creek beside the marina holds the wharves and pile moorings used by the local fishing fleet. Passage distances are friendly: Heron Island lies about 72 kilometres offshore, Lady Musgrave is reachable via the Bunker group, and the inshore islands of the harbour, including Facing Island and Curtis Island, offer sheltered anchorages without leaving port limits. Race crews know the marina best at Easter, when the Brisbane to Gladstone fleet pours in over a few hectic days, but through the winter the pace is slower and the marina fills with southbound and northbound cruisers swapping reef stories over fuel wharf conversations. Visitors should time arrival for daylight on a first visit, because the harbour's aids to navigation serve the shipping channels rather than small craft, and the final approach past Auckland Point is easy once identified. The marina parklands beside the pens have a cafe and picnic lawns that double as the informal crew muster point.