Port Coogee Marina

About the marina

Port Coogee Marina occupies a dredged basin at the southern end of Cockburn Sound, about 5.5 kilometres south of Fremantle, inside the Port Coogee coastal estate that rose from the district's former industrial shoreline over the past two decades. It is one of the few significant Perth marinas owned and run by a local council: the City of Cockburn manages the pens, the public jetty and the waterfront village as municipal infrastructure rather than as a private or club operation. That civic character shows in the layout. Maraboo Island carries the three main floating jetties, a 90-metre timber boardwalk with jarrah seating recycled from an upgrade of the Coogee Beach Jetty links the pens to the shore, and the marina village behind the water holds a supermarket, cafes, restaurants and specialty shops that serve pen holders and the surrounding suburb of North Coogee equally. The scale is mid-sized by metropolitan standards, 231 floating berths ranging from 8 to 30 metres, but demand has outstripped supply for years. The council reports the marina at about 90 per cent occupancy, waitlists covering 235 pens, with pens between 8 and 15 metres the most contested, and in August 2025 it endorsed public consultation on a 4.1 million dollar stage four expansion that would add 32 private pens, including six jet ski pens, plus four public berths. A stage three expansion completed in 2022 at a cost of 5.84 million dollars had already added 69 berths. Boats here are overwhelmingly recreational: trailerable fishing rigs, family cruisers and yachts whose owners use Cockburn Sound as their home water and run out to Carnac, Garden and Rottnest islands on weekends. The marina also sits beside the Coogee Maritime Trail and the Omeo shipwreck, so the precinct doubles as a snorkelling and diving destination, giving it a broader public role than a pure boat park.

Berthing & shoreside services

Berthing at Port Coogee is on floating concrete pontoons; the stage three jetties installed in 2022 used the Bellingham Unifloat system, which the City of Cockburn cites as carrying a potential 50-year service life. Pens run from 8 metres up to 30 metres and are offered under long-term licences, with a council-run waitlist that has periodically closed for the most popular size bands. Short Term Licences cover overnight and multi-day visits and can be booked through the City, and a separate public jetty, open daily from 6 am to 7 pm, allows up to two hours of free berthing for boats calling in for lunch or supplies. Every berth has metered power and water, with three-phase power available, and the licence fee for permanent holders includes water usage and sullage disposal. A service jetty dispenses diesel and unleaded petrol. Free wifi extends across the marina, and security is by swipe-card access gates supplemented by video surveillance, with new gatehouses added as part of the 2022 works. The Marina Services Building provides toilets and showers and was upgraded in late 2022 to increase capacity and add a small multipurpose lounge. Marina trolleys are provided for moving gear between car park and pen, and reconfigured parking on Maraboo Island added bays with the stage three project. On the rules side, fishing, crabbing and spear fishing are prohibited inside the marina basin, and licence conditions cover vessel standards and insurance. Landside support comes from the Port Coogee Village rather than the marina itself: a supermarket within walking distance, food and beverage outlets on the waterfront, and health and beauty services in the precinct. There is no travel lift, slipway or hardstand at Port Coogee; for haul-outs and mechanical work pen holders typically run north to the Fremantle harbours or south to the Kwinana strip, so the marina functions primarily as a berthing, fuelling and provisioning base rather than a refit yard.

Local context in YouSail

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

Approach to Port Coogee is straightforward in most conditions: the basin sits behind two outer breakwaters on the eastern shore of Cockburn Sound, and the sound itself is sheltered from ocean swell by the chain of offshore islands and reefs. The entrance is lit and the surrounding water is deep enough for keeled yachts without tide calculations, though the afternoon Fremantle Doctor can pile a short chop against the breakwaters in summer. From the entrance it is a short run to the region's classic cruising grounds. Carnac Island, a nature reserve where landing is prohibited but anchoring off the beach is popular, lies a few miles out; Garden Island's naval base restricts access to its eastern side but the western bays are heavily used; Rottnest is an easy half-day run in reasonable weather. Northbound boats can be inside the Fremantle harbours within twenty minutes, and the Swan River gives protected cruising well upstream. Pen holders and visitors should note the no-fishing rule inside the marina; the alternatives are close at hand, with the accessible fishing jetty at Chelydra Point and the historic Ammunition Jetty at Nyyerbup Circle both popular shore spots. Ashore, the Coogee Maritime Trail and the Omeo wreck just off the beach make for an easy snorkel, and Coogee Beach has a seasonal eco shark barrier enclosing a swim area. Provisioning is genuinely convenient: the village supermarket, bakery and cafes are a few hundred metres from the pens. For visitors on a Short Term Licence the marina works well as a staging base, fuel and ice on the way out, two free hours on the public jetty for a lunch stop, and enough shelter inside the sound that even small trailer boats can plan around the sea breeze rather than being ruled by it.