Marina service
Lake Butler Marina (Robe Marina)
About
Lake Butler Marina (Robe Marina) at a glance
Council-run marina in the old Lake Butler basin at Robe, connected to the sea by a channel cut in 1964, with about 100 recreational and 40 commercial berths up to 20 m. Facilities include a 24-hour credit-card diesel berth, straddle lift, hardstand and toilets/showers; the entrance channel is prone to silting and current advice should be sought from council before entry.
Service area: Limestone Coast
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- District Council of Robe
- Region
- Limestone Coast
- Water body
- Lake Butler / Guichen Bay
- Wet berths
- 165
- Maximum vessel
- 20 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing, casual berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- travel lift
- hardstand
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- 24hr credit-card diesel
- berth sales via agents (Butler North/South, Waterhouse arms)
- 30t straddle lift
- council channel depth advice
- commercial fishing quay
About Lake Butler Marina (Robe Marina)
Lake Butler was a natural coastal lagoon behind the dunes at Robe long before it was a marina. Local fishermen moored in open Guichen Bay through the summer, then hauled their boats over the sandhills into the lake for winter shelter, a practice that ended in 1964 when a channel was cut through to the sea and the lake became a year-round harbour. The marina that grew inside the old basin is run by the District Council of Robe, which holds care and control of Lake Butler under lease from the state transport department, and it now splits roughly 100 recreational berths from about 40 commercial berths that serve Robe's rock lobster and scalefish fleet. Berths take vessels up to about 20 metres, and a surprising number are privately owned, sold on behalf of the council through local agents at prices that have recently ranged from around $41,000 to $60,000 plus GST depending on which arm of the basin they sit in. The setting gives the marina a dual character: a working harbour with craypots stacked on the wharf side and a holiday fleet of cruisers and trailer boats on the other, all a short walk from Robe's main street. Robe itself is one of the state's oldest ports, a town of stone cottages that shipped wool in the clipper era and landed thousands of Chinese gold-seekers bound for the Victorian diggings in the 1850s, and the marina occupies the same sheltered water that made the place worth a port in the first place.
Marina facilities
The marina's berths, both recreational and commercial, have power and water delivered via service walkways, and berth ownership or lease is administered through council with sales handled by local real estate agents; the current listings name the Butler North, Butler South and Waterhouse arms, priced from about $41,000 for Waterhouse berths up to $60,000 plus GST on the north side. A 24-hour diesel berth operates inside the harbour on a credit or debit card with PIN, which is a significant convenience on this coast where fuel docks are scarce. Haul-out is by straddle lift: the marina has long operated a straddle carrier, and a 2024 trade listing offered the older unit, rated to 30 tonnes, for sale, indicating fleet renewal in the yard. A hardstand area takes boats for storage and maintenance, and car parking with toilets sits beside the berths; showers and toilets serve berth holders. There is no chandlery or restaurant inside the marina itself, but Robe's main street, with hotels, cafes, a bakery and supplies, is within walking distance. Council's own Lake Butler Marina review documents the straddle lift, hardstand and berth-rate income as the facility's core services. Bookings, casual berthing and current channel advice all run through the council depot on (08) 8768 2003, and visitors are explicitly advised to seek up-to-date depth information before entering, since the entrance channel is prone to silting and recent soundings govern who gets in and when. The commercial berths are occupied largely by working lobster and scalefish boats, which keeps the wharf apron busy through the season and means visiting yachts share the basin with a genuine professional fleet rather than a purely recreational crowd.
Local sailing knowledge
Everything about entering Lake Butler turns on the channel. Cut through the dunes in 1964, it connects the basin to Guichen Bay and has a habit of silting; the most commonly quoted figure is about two metres at low tide, but that changes, and council's advice before entry is not a formality. Shallow-keel boats and the local fishing fleet come and go daily, but a deeper cruising yacht should arrive near high water in settled weather and be prepared for a bar-like chop where the channel meets the bay in any swell from the south or east. Once inside, the lake is landlocked and calm in all winds. Guichen Bay outside is open roadstead with the town jetty and its fishing boats to the north; anchoring off the town is possible in offshore conditions but exposed to the south. Robe's attractions are on foot from the berth: the foreshore, Long Beach to the north where cars still drive on the sand, the obelisk at Cape Dombey, and a string of pubs and eateries along the main street. The commercial fleet lands southern rock lobster through the season, and the wharf side of the marina is a working quay, so give way accordingly. For cruising boats working the Limestone Coast, Lake Butler is the key stop between the Coorong and Cape Jaffa to the north-west and Beachport to the south-east, and the only place on that stretch offering diesel at the dock around the clock. Local cray boats head out before dawn, so expect early engine noise in season.