Marina service
1770 Marina
About
1770 Marina at a glance
Small marina inside Round Hill Creek at the Town of 1770 with fuelling, water and electricity hookups, open 24/7 for docked boats. Tidal creek access; staging point for the Bunker Group of the southern Great Barrier Reef.
Service area: Gladstone / Capricorn
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- 1770 Marina
- Region
- Gladstone / Capricorn
- Water body
- Round Hill Creek
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- power & water
- restaurant/cafe
- dual-lane boat ramp (5t limit per lane, tide-dependent)
- after-hours fuel by arrangement
- kayak and paddleboard hire
- restrooms
- no fishing/swimming/snorkelling in basin
- fishing info and reef maps
- reef tour departures
About 1770 Marina
1770 Marina lies inside Round Hill Creek at the Town of 1770, the small settlement where Lieutenant James Cook and the Endeavour party made their first landing on Queensland soil in May 1770. The marina is small - a compact basin of floating pontoons behind the creek's entrance sandbanks - but its strategic weight far exceeds its size, because it is the closest mainland port to the Bunker Group of the southern Great Barrier Reef and the recognised staging point for Lady Musgrave Island. Every morning in season, reef catamarans load day-trippers beside the pontoons while charter fishing boats, private cruisers and trailer boats fuel and launch for the run offshore. The township around it is barely more than a foreshore strip of holiday houses, a couple of eateries and the famous 1770 headland, with the twin town of Agnes Water, six kilometres south, holding the supermarkets and services. What gives the marina its particular character is the collision of history and logistics: Cook's landing place is commemorated a short walk away, the annual 1770 Festival re-enacts it each May, and yet the working reality is tidal - the creek shallows dramatically at low water, the entrance behaves like a bar, and every vessel movement is planned around the tide board. For cruising yachts on the Queensland coast it is a welcome, if snug, refuge in a 150-nautical-mile stretch between Bundaberg and Gladstone with few other all-tide options. The marina markets itself as the passport to the reef, and for once the slogan is literal: outside the creek mouth lies open Coral Sea, and inside it lies one of the most historic anchorages in the country. That pairing of convenience and significance draws everyone from backpacker reef tours to long-range game boats, and the small scale of the basin means the pontoon community gets to know itself quickly.
Marina facilities
The marina's services are compact but cover the essentials for docked boats around the clock. Berthing mixes short-stay, overnight and longer arrangements on floating pontoons with shore power and potable water at the berth, plus clean restrooms and straightforward shore access; depths alongside vary with tide and berth position, so skippers of deeper vessels confirm suitability with the office before committing. A dedicated fuel dock dispenses premium fuel during business hours, with after-hours refuelling available by arrangement through the marina office - a service reef-bound charter boats use heavily at first light. The 1770 Marina Cafe overlooks the pontoons and handles the breakfast-and-lunch trade, and the precinct includes a promenade, local shops and kayak and paddleboard hire for the sheltered creek. A strict no fishing, no swimming and no snorkelling rule applies inside the basin. Trailer boats use the dual-lane concrete ramp beside the marina, which carries a five-tonne gross limit per lane, is strictly for trailer craft, and demands care at extreme low tides where the lanes end in a steep drop-off; the ramp is also exposed to northerlies. What the marina does not offer is equally clear: no travel lift, hardstand, chandlery or mechanical services onsite. For slipping, bulk fuel, engineering or complex repairs, operators point boats to Gladstone or Bundaberg, and even routine provisioning beyond basics means a run to Agnes Water's supermarkets, gas refills and hardware. Fishing information and reef maps are provided through the marina, which acts as the informal briefing room for the Bunker Group run.
Local sailing knowledge
Local knowledge here is mostly tidal arithmetic. Round Hill Creek's entrance is narrow and shifting and behaves like a bar, with shoals that re-form after weather; the safe window is the top half of the tide in good visibility, and skippers treat the leads as current guidance only. Volunteer Marine Rescue Round Hill - VMR 477 - covers the area on VHF channels 81 and 82 and is the first call for entrance conditions or assistance. Inside, the creek is shallow at low water and the tidal stream runs with purpose, so allow for it when docking. The anchorage off the township is workable with generally good holding, but the marina berth is the comfortable option. Offshore, the rewards are immediate: Lady Musgrave Island and lagoon lie roughly 30 nautical miles out, with Fitzroy Reef and the rest of the Bunker Group beyond, and the run is short enough that charter and private boats alike day-trip it in settled weather. Coral Sea swells wrap around the headland, so northerlies make the creek mouth lumpy and the boat ramp awkward. Ashore, the rhythm is holiday-town simple - sunrise over the creek (one of the few places on the east coast where the sun sets over water is the local claim for the western horizon across Bustard Bay), the Cook landing monument and boardwalk, LARC amphibious tours along the bay, and supplies at Agnes Water. Note the town has no public fish-cleaning facilities, a real consideration for fishing groups. Whale sightings are common in season, and bookings for both berths and reef trips are essential during school holidays and the May festival.