Marina service
d'Albora Marinas The Spit
About
d'Albora Marinas The Spit at a glance
World-class marina just inside the Spit Bridge with 193 wet berths to 40 m, 60 swing moorings in Quakers Hat and Pearl Bays, 50 t travel lift and hardstand, 24/7 fuel and two-hatted restaurant Ormeggio at The Spit.
Service area: Middle Harbour
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- d'Albora Marinas
- Region
- Middle Harbour
- Water body
- Middle Harbour (The Spit / Pearl Bay)
- Wet berths
- 193
- Maximum vessel
- 40 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing, casual berthing, swing moorings, superyacht berths
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- travel lift
- hardstand
- repairs & maintenance
- chandlery
- 24/7 security
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- restaurant/cafe
- concierge
- jib crane
- superyacht berths
- boat brokerage onsite
- guest water lounge
- reciprocal berthing
- metered parking
- online berth booking
About d'Albora Marinas The Spit
Just inside the Spit Bridge on the Mosman side, d'Albora Marinas The Spit is the largest single concentration of berths on Middle Harbour and the de facto service centre for the waterway. The marina packs 193 wet berths for boats to 40 metres into the shoreline west of the bridge, with another 60 swing moorings spread across Quakers Hat and Pearl Bays, and it has grown steadily from a modest post-war marina into the Sydney flagship of the d'Albora network. A major redevelopment approved in recent years replaced the old fixed jetties with modern floating arms, shifted the fuel berth and sewage pump-out to D Arm, and in 2023 delivered a purpose-built haul-out facility with a 50-tonne travel lift, giving the group's three Sydney Harbour marinas an in-house boatyard for the first time. The clientele runs from weekend runabout owners through to superyacht crews, and the social centre of gravity is unusually strong for a working marina: Ormeggio at The Spit, Alessandro Pavoni's Italian seafood restaurant on the marina, has held two chef's hats since 2012 and takes its name from the Italian word for mooring, while Chiosco by Ormeggio handles the barefoot end of the market. Pearl Bay next door is also home to Mosman Rowing Club's boatsheds, so early mornings see racing shells threading between the marina arms. Marina activity at The Spit stretches back to the post-war decades, when the tram still terminated at the bridge and Middle Harbour was weekend-fisher territory, and successive owners added arms and hardstand before d'Albora consolidated the property into its national network. The 2019-approved redevelopment has since reshaped the site almost wholesale.
Marina facilities
The berthing offer spans permanent, casual and superyacht berths to 40 metres plus 60 swing moorings in Quakers Hat and Pearl Bays, all inside a 24-hour security perimeter with swipe-card access and CCTV. Dockmaster assistance runs seven days, bookable through the marina office or the group's 1800 DALBORA line, and d'Albora members enjoy reciprocal rights across the national network plus discounted fuel. The fuel berth on D Arm operates around the clock with diesel and petrol, and the sewage pump-out sits alongside it. The 2023 boatyard is the headline: a 50-tonne travel lift hauling vessels to about 21 metres and 50 tonnes, six hardstand bays serviced by a 2-tonne jib crane, and water, compressed air and power at each stand. On-site marine tenants cover shipwrighting, antifouling, mechanical and electrical work and detailing, with a project management team coordinating bigger jobs, and d'Albora Yacht Brokers runs its sales office from the marina. Berth holders have a guest water lounge, showers, toilets and laundry, metered parking with annual passes for regulars, and wifi across the arms. Dining is a genuine draw rather than an afterthought: Ormeggio seats around ninety with terrazza and deck dining over Pearl Bay, and Chiosco does coffee and casual plates at the water's edge. Casual berths can be booked online, though weekend and regatta periods fill quickly. Kayak and paddle-craft storage racks serve the paddling community that trains on Pearl Bay, and boat hire operates from the marina for visitors without their own craft. A member and guest services team coordinates contractor access, arrivals and group benefits, and berth holders receive preferential rates across the group's five east-coast boatyards.
Local sailing knowledge
Everything about this marina is shaped by the Spit Bridge. The bascule bridge opens on a published schedule, and any vessel with height above the closed span must time its arrival accordingly, which concentrates inbound and outbound traffic into pulses around each lift; booking a berth before lining up for the bridge is sensible. Depths in Middle Harbour are generous and the leads are well marked, but the channel past the marina is busy with kayaks, rowing shells from the Pearl Bay sheds and moored boats swinging in Quakers Hat Bay. Once tied up, the position is hard to beat: ten minutes by tender to the entrance of Middle Harbour, twenty to the main harbour, and Balmoral Beach, Chinamans Beach and the Spit-to-Manly walk all within easy reach. Provisioning is limited at the marina itself beyond the restaurants, so crews walk up to the Spit Road shops or duck across to Mosman village. Middle Harbour's upper reaches, past Roseville Bridge to Bantry Bay and the national park anchorages, are an easy half-day cruise upstream and noticeably quieter than the main harbour. Locals rate The Spit as the practical end of Middle Harbour: fuel at any hour, a lift that can haul most trailerable and mid-size craft, and a restaurant worth dressing for at the end of the dock. One timing note for first-timers: the bridge lift schedule is published by Transport for NSW, and road congestion on Spit Road can matter as much as tide or wind for crews driving in. Quakers Hat Bay, immediately west, is among the more secure foul-weather mooring spots on Middle Harbour when a southerly buster is due.