About
Dolans Bay Marina at a glance
Marina at 72-74 Parthenia Street on the western shore of Dolans Bay, Port Hacking, with marina berths and moorings (no fuel). Boutique marina at 72-74 Parthenia St with berths and moorings; has one of the largest slipways in the Sutherland Shire; 2019 proposal to expand to 82 berths faced strong council/community opposition
Service area: Port Hacking
- Marina type
- marina
- Operator
- Dolans Bay Marina Pty Ltd
- Region
- Port Hacking
- Water body
- Port Hacking (Dolans Bay)
- Berth types
- permanent berthing, swing moorings, casual berthing
Facilities and services
- slipway
- repairs & maintenance
- slipway (large capacity)
- shipwright & repair trades
- showers
- restrooms
- 240V power & water at berths
- swing moorings
- no fuel or pump-out on site
About Dolans Bay Marina
Dolans Bay Marina occupies the western shore of Dolans Bay at 72-74 Parthenia Street, a small enclosed cove on the northern side of the Port Hacking estuary between Burraneer Bay and Lilli Pilli in the Sutherland Shire. It is a boutique, privately run yard in the old style: a working slipway, a modest spread of marina berths and swing moorings, and none of the fuel dock, restaurant or retail layer that bigger operations have added. The suburb around it is residential to the waterline, with houses and boatsheds fronting the bay, and Parthenia Street, effectively a single lane in places, gives the site a back-street character that belies its reputation among Shire boat owners. That reputation rests on the slipway, repeatedly described as one of the largest in the Sutherland Shire, which for decades has hauled the cruisers and yachts of Port Hacking for antifouling and repairs. The marina has also been the centre of one of the Shire's harder-fought planning battles. A 2019 proposal to expand the operation to 82 berths, increasing its occupied waterway area by roughly 280 per cent, drew hundreds of objections through the NSW planning portal, with residents and Sutherland Shire Council raising traffic, environmental and visual concerns about industrialising a small bay. The episode says much about the place: a genuinely useful working waterfront that locals rely on, sitting in a neighbourhood fiercely protective of a quiet, bush-fringed cove. The marina continues to operate at its existing scale, serving the boating households of Dolans Bay, Burraneer and Caringbah South, and its value lies precisely in being small, local and focused on hulls rather than hospitality.
Marina facilities
Dolans Bay Marina's services revolve around berthing, moorings and slipping. The marina offers permanent wet berths and casual berthing by arrangement, plus swing moorings in the bay, with water and 240V electricity available at the berths; directory listings place the practical vessel limit around 20 metres. Basic amenities on site include restrooms and showers for berth and slipway customers. There is no fuel wharf and no sewage pump-out at the marina, a point confirmed during the planning dispute, so crews refuel across the estuary at Cronulla's Calico Marina or at other Port Hacking fuel points, and black-water arrangements are made elsewhere. The slipway is the core trade facility: one of the largest in the Sutherland Shire, it hauls monohulls and smaller multihulls for antifouling, osmosis work, rudder and shaft maintenance, and insurance surveys, with shipwright and repair trades working on site or attending by arrangement. For the Shire's southern suburbs it fills a genuine gap, since the alternative slipping options are Calico's 60-tonne way at Cronulla or yards outside the estuary altogether. Berth and mooring enquiries go through the marina office by phone, and the email contact has remained stable for years, reflecting the operation's steady, low-churn clientele of local owners. Trade access is via Parthenia Street, which is narrow and residential, so larger deliveries and crane work need some planning. The 2019 expansion application, had it proceeded, would have added berths and modernised facilities, but it faced strong council and community opposition and the marina has continued at its established footprint. For boat owners the practical summary is this: berths and moorings with power and water, showers and toilets ashore, a large slipway with real shipwright capability, and everything else, fuel, pump-out, chandlery, sourced a short run away around Port Hacking.
Local sailing knowledge
Dolans Bay is one of Port Hacking's most protected corners. The cove opens off the northern shore of the main basin, its entrance facing south-east into the estuary, and the surrounding headlands knock down southerly swell and most sea breeze chop, which is why the bay has been lined with boatsheds and moorings for generations. Depths inside are moderate and the bottom shoals toward the head of the bay, so deeper-keeled visitors favour the outer moorings and berths, and dinghy landings are best made around high water. Approaching from the sea means crossing the Port Hacking entrance between Cronulla and Bundeena, open to the Tasman but without a formal bar; an ebb tide against an easterly makes it uncomfortable, and locals time arrivals for the flood. Inside the estuary the run to Dolans Bay passes Burraneer Bay and the moored fleets off Caringbah South. The bay itself is a no-wash, slow-speed environment shared with kayaks, paddleboarders and swimming families, and courtesy on the throttle is noticed. Ashore there is no commercial strip at the water: the nearest shops, cafes and bait supplies are at Caringbah South and Cronulla, a few minutes by car, so crews arrive provisioned. The opposite shore of Port Hacking is Royal National Park, and from Dolans Bay the park-side anchorages, from Jibbon Beach to the quiet upper reaches toward Audley, are all within an easy day's run. Fishing in the bay and along the nearby reefs produces flathead, bream and whiting, and the slipway apron on a weekday morning is where local knowledge changes hands. Visitors should also know the neighbourhood's sensitivities: the community fought hard over the marina's expansion, wash, noise and parking are watched closely, and a quiet arrival wins more goodwill than any introduction.