Port Lincoln Marina (Lincoln Cove Marina)

About the marina

Lincoln Cove was dredged out of the southern shore of Boston Bay in 1986 as Port Lincoln's purpose-built fishing and tourism precinct, and the marina at its heart now operates in two distinct personalities. The recreational arm takes yachts and trailerable craft up to about 14 metres, while the commercial arm alongside accommodates bigger working boats with three-phase power, sharing the cove with one of Australia's most valuable fishing fleets. Management sits with the Sarin Property Group, which handles berth sales and rentals from the precinct and also owns nearby apartments and a tourist park, making the marina as much a property enterprise as a boating one. The setting is practical rather than picturesque: a sheltered rectangular basin behind breakwaters, ringed by marine service businesses, with the Marina Hotel and its waterfront dining on one side and the council leisure centre behind. What gives the place its character is the traffic. Tuna boats, prawn trawlers and charter operators work out of the same water, and each summer the basin fills with interstate keelboats when the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race and the Lincoln Week regatta descend on the town, turning the marina into the regatta's operational hub. Recreational and commercial traffic are kept on separate arms of the basin, so a visiting yacht is not sharing piers with loading tuna boats, and the whole precinct functions as the town's second harbour after the main town jetty. For many South Australian sailors Lincoln Cove is simply the finish line: the annual Adelaide to Port Lincoln race has ended here for decades, and the presentation and accommodation infrastructure that has grown around the marina reflects that tradition.

Berthing & shoreside services

Recreational berths cater to vessels up to 14 metres with power and water at every berth, while the commercial arm takes larger vessels and supplies three-phase power; all piers sit behind locked gates with access codes issued to berth holders and guests. Sarin publishes its rental rates, which is unusually transparent for a private marina: as of January 2024 an 8 metre berth costs $53 for the first day then $28 daily, $135 weekly or $515 monthly, a 12 metre berth $63 then $39 daily, $202 weekly or $770 monthly, a 14 metre berth $72 then $44 daily, $235 weekly or $900 monthly, and commercial berths run $82 then $53 daily, $320 weekly or $1,185 monthly, all GST inclusive. Berths are also sold outright, with recent listings between $13,500 and $79,000 in the recreational arm and around $50,000 plus GST commercially. A 24-hour credit-card fuel berth operates just outside the marina entrance, and a service station nearby handles jerry-can runs. Waste facilities include a locked FM Waste skip bin beside the Marina Hotel, a waste collection point at South Point Drive near Pier 5, pump-out and waste oil disposal. There are no showers in the marina itself; berth holders use the council-run toilets and showers, for a small fee, at the Port Lincoln Leisure Centre behind the hotel. A genuine range of marine trades works in the surrounding precinct, and short-term rentals are also brokered through Marina Exchange. Dinghy access is practical too: crews can tie up at the pontoon just outside the Marina Hotel, which sits a short walk from the South Point Drive side of the basin. Enquiries for both rental and purchase go through the property administrator on 0429 885 265.

Local context in YouSail

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

The marina entrance, at roughly 34 degrees 44.5 minutes south and 135 degrees 52.8 minutes east, opens off Boston Bay and the basin gives shelter from all directions, one reason the commercial fleet chose it. Boston Bay itself is broad and deep with a straightforward approach from Spencer Gulf, though the bay can throw up a steep chop in a hard southerly and the town's grain wharves and tuna farms keep the water busy. The marina's one genuine drawback is distance: it sits several kilometres south of the town centre, so a provisioning run to the supermarkets means a taxi or a long walk, and experienced cruisers stock up before berthing or use the hotel and Cruisers Cafe at the precinct for meals. Ashore, Port Lincoln offers the full services of the Eyre Peninsula's largest town, including chandlers, engineers and slipways elsewhere around the harbour for jobs beyond the marina's scope. The fishing is the famous part; Boston Bay and the offshore islands produce King George whiting, snapper, tuna and kingfish, and charter operators run from the precinct. For visiting yachts the marina also makes a logical staging point before crossing Spencer Gulf to Whyalla or Wallaroo, or heading south round the capes toward Coffin Bay, and during Lincoln Week in February expect the berths to be booked solid well ahead. Fishing and sightseeing charters, including shark-cage operators bound for the Neptune Islands, work from the broader waterfront, and the Fishermen's Memorial near the marina is a sobering reminder of the fleet's losses. Properly sheltered in all winds, the cove is also a useful storm refuge for boats caught on this coast.