About
Davis Marina at a glance
Family marina established in 1946 in a sheltered corner of North Harbour near Manly, with more than fifty swing moorings and two slipways operated with tenant Sailor Marine Engineering.
Service area: Sydney Harbour
- Marina type
- boatyard with berths
- Operator
- Davis Marina
- Region
- Sydney Harbour
- Water body
- North Harbour
- Berth types
- swing moorings
Facilities and services
- slipway
- repairs & maintenance
- swing mooring servicing
- weekend tender service
- two slipways
- fuel bowsers (former western jetty)
- rigger and boatbuilder services
- engine repair
- water taxi access
- kiosk (approved 2025)
- dinghy rack storage (approved)
- wet berths 8-15m
About Davis Marina
Davis Marina sits at the head of a narrow, tree-lined cove in North Harbour, on the Balgowlah shoreline directly across the water from Manly. Ancient angophoras lean over the water, and the old timber boatshed completed in 1947 still stands at the back of the marina, a direct link to founder Steve Davis, a wartime pilot who returned from the Second World War and started building boats here in 1946, when North Harbour had few houses. Steve built the first marina in 1966; his son Bruce took over as manager in 1982 and ran the business with his wife Pam for 41 years, famously servicing the moorings themselves into their seventies. In 2011 the family demolished the old fixed jetties and installed a modern floating marina of 28 to 29 berths alongside 51 licensed swing moorings scattered through the bay. The place has an outsised place in Australian sailing folklore: Kay Cottee departed from here in 1988 on the first solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation by a woman, Don McIntyre sailed for Antarctica in 1993, and generations of Sydney Hobart crews used the marina as a jumping-off point. In 2023 the Davis family sold to Addenbrooke's Ned O'Neil, and the business has been rebranded North Harbour Marina, joining the group's Rose Bay and Point Piper holdings. The character remains that of a small, full family marina, but change is coming: a 2025 approval allows the berth count to grow from 35 to 44 with a kiosk and dinghy storage over the old slipway.
Marina facilities
The rebuilt floating marina offers around 28 wet berths, while the core of the business has always been the 51 swing moorings licensed across North Harbour, anchored to concrete blocks with chain and rope and serviced in-house, a ritual the previous owners performed for decades. At the time of the 2023 sale the berths and moorings were fully occupied with a waiting list of 51, and casual vacancies have historically been rare. A cruising guide quoted roughly $400 a month for a mooring for a 42-foot yacht, with a weekends-only tender service included and mooring holders able to come alongside the wharf briefly by arrangement. Land facilities have traditionally been modest: toilets and a shower in the boatshed during operating hours, water and power at the wharf, water taxi access and 27 angled parking bays at the top of a steep access ramp at the end of Gourlay Avenue. The two slipways were long the engine room of the business, worked in conjunction with tenant Sailor Marine Engineering, and a cruising guide credits the yard with slipping a 14-tonne 38-foot steel yacht without difficulty, alongside rigger, boatbuilder and engine repair services; the slipway tenant has since relocated to the Central Coast, leaving that side of the operation scaled back. Fuel bowsers formerly operated at the western jetty. Under new ownership an approved redevelopment adds nine floating berths, taking the total from 35 to 44 with berths of 8 to 15 metres and T-heads usable by two smaller boats, removes four soft-stand berths and ten moorings to create a navigation panel, and builds dinghy racks for 72 boats over the slipway plus a kiosk trading 7am to 4pm.
Local sailing knowledge
North Harbour is one of the quietest corners of Sydney Harbour, a sheltered arm west of Manly with a sandy reserve, Forty Baskets Beach at its entrance and netted swimming enclosures nearby. The marina lies deep in the cove, well protected from the harbour's prevailing southerlies, though the old owners noted that infrequent sou'easters can roll straight in and demand strong moorings. Access from the sea could hardly be simpler: there are no bridges, bars or locks between the marina and Sydney Heads, and the run to open water past Dobroyd Head takes minutes, which is exactly why passage-makers have staged from here for decades. Fairway depths are comfortable for ordinary keeled yachts, and the mooring field is dense, so arrivals should call ahead on 02 9948 3750 rather than assume a casual spot. Ashore, the setting feels oddly bush-bound for its location: Manly's wharf, supermarkets, chandleries and ferry to Circular Quay are a short drive or water taxi away, and the Fairlight and Manly boatsheds offer alternative services around the point. Manly Yacht Club, the marina's long-time neighbour in spirit, races from Manly Cove and has supplied generations of junior sailors to the area. Visiting boat crews use the cove for quiet nights before coastal hops north to Pittwater or south to Port Hacking, and the marina's combination of swing moorings, a slipway and immediate Heads access keeps it attractive to cruisers preparing for offshore passages despite the limited onshore facilities. Sailors based here speak of the short-hands convenience: a boat can leave its mooring and be outside the Heads inside half an hour, and returning crews appreciate the lee of the cove after a hard nor'easter outside. Kayakers and stand-up paddlers share the shallows around the moorings, the harbour's ferry and shipping lanes are crossed well to seaward, and Marine Rescue's Sydney bases cover the approaches. For provisioning, Manly Wharf is the practical hub, while overnight anchorages at Quarantine Beach and Spring Cove lie just around Dobroyd Head for boats waiting on a tide or a weather window.