Marina service
Jurien Bay Boat Harbour
About
Jurien Bay Boat Harbour at a glance
DoT-managed boat harbour with rentable pens, four service jetties (power, water and 24/7 credit-card diesel on the fuel jetty), a concrete four-lane ramp and the Jurien Boat Lifters yard with a 48-tonne boat lifter, secure fencing and hardstand for vessel repair and storage.
Service area: Mid West
- Marina type
- fishing boat harbour with marina
- Operator
- Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI)
- Region
- Mid West
- Water body
- Jurien Bay (Indian Ocean)
- Dry storage
- Yes (Jurien Boat Lifters hardstand)
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- power & water
- travel lift
- hardstand
- repairs & maintenance
- boat ramp
- three-phase power at service jetties
- 24/7 card-operated diesel (Comen Fuel WA)
- flare disposal at Sea Rescue
- sea lion charters
About Jurien Bay Boat Harbour
Jurien Bay Boat Harbour is first and foremost a fishing harbour, and everything about it reflects that. The town itself, about 220 kilometres north of Perth, was named by French cartographer Louis de Freycinet after Charles Marie Jurien, and it grew into one of the centres of the western rock lobster industry; the annual Blessing of the Fleet still marks the start of the crayfishing season. The harbour is managed by the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure and combines rentable recreational pens with the infrastructure of a working port: four service jetties, a 24-hour diesel berth, a big concrete ramp and a commercial-scale boat lifting yard. The fleet mix tells the story. Crayboats share the water with charter vessels running tourists out to the Australian sea lion colonies in the Jurien Bay Marine Park, recreational fishers chasing dhufish and pink snapper on the inshore reefs, and a growing number of cruising boats using the harbour as a stop on the long coastal run between Perth and Geraldton. The town behind the harbour has grown steadily on the back of the sea change market, but the harbour itself has kept its utilitarian character: bitumen, sheds, fuel lines and forklifts rather than cafes and boardwalks. For boat owners this is precisely the attraction. Jurien offers the kind of practical infrastructure, from a 48-tonne lifter to all-hours card-operated diesel, that is increasingly rare outside the big metropolitan marinas, wrapped in one of the more scenic and fish-rich stretches of the Turquoise Coast.
Marina facilities
The harbour offers rentable pens on casual and permanent terms through the department, backed by four service jetties with distinct roles. The East Jetty supplies single and three-phase power and water; the West Jetty adds a diesel fuel outlet to the same power and water services; the dedicated fuel jetty provides diesel berthing; and a government jetty serves official vessels. Published load limits allow 50-tonne displacement vessels berthing at up to 0.3 metres per second, with 5-tonne crane loads on the service jetties. Diesel is dispensed around the clock by Comen Fuel WA on a self-service credit-card basis, with Comen fuel cards and all major cards accepted. The launching facility is a concrete four-lane ramp with two finger jetties and a sealed 245-bay car and trailer park to the east of the harbour. Haul-out and hardstand work centres on Jurien Boat Lifters at the harbour's north-east, which operates a 48-tonne boat lifter with a scissor lift and forklift, two large sheds, a wash-down area and a securely fenced bituminised hardstand where owners can repair, maintain and store vessels. Two public toilet blocks serve the pens and ramps, and expired flares can be handed in at the Jurien Bay Volunteer Sea Rescue Group on Breakwater Drive. There is no chandlery, shower block or fuel for petrol boats inside the harbour, so skippers should plan accordingly; the town's shops, marine mechanic and hardware cover most other needs within a short drive of the pens. Berthing enquiries and pen applications go through the department's regional office, and the harbour's layout, with the pens sheltered behind the breakwater and the service jetties along the eastern side, means most vessels can be fuelled, watered and worked on without leaving the harbour basin.
Local sailing knowledge
Jurien Bay is reef country, and the approach rewards attention. The bay is studded with limestone reefs, ledges and low islands running north-south, and the harbour sits behind its breakwater in the southern part of the bay; the marked leads are the safe way in, particularly at night or in a westerly blow, and depths around the reefs shelve quickly. Once inside, the holding is good sand and the harbour is comfortable in most conditions, though strong summer sea breezes funnel through the bay on hot afternoons. The cruising and fishing grounds are the reason boats come: the Jurien Bay Marine Park stretches along the coast with the sea lion colonies on the offshore islands as its headline act, and charter boats run snorkelling trips out to swim with them. Inshore reefs produce dhufish, snapper, baldchin groper and herring, and the rock lobster season keeps the working fleet busy from November. Ashore the town is small but adequate, with a supermarket, bakery, hotel and a handful of cafes, plus a sea rescue group that knows the local water intimately. Jurien makes a logical overnight stop for yachts running between Two Rocks or Mindarie and Geraldton, breaking what is otherwise a long exposed passage, and its 24-hour card-operated diesel means even a midnight arrival can refuel and press on. Drivers towing up from Perth should allow about two and a half hours via Indian Ocean Drive, and note that the ramp car park fills early on calm summer weekends. The annual Blessing of the Fleet, when the crayboats parade for a benediction ahead of the season, is worth timing a visit for, and the skydive operation over the bay gives the harbour skyline a parachute or two most fine weekends.