Marina service
Long Island Marina (Corleone Marinas)
About
Long Island Marina (Corleone Marinas) at a glance
Corleone-group marina at 59-65 Brooklyn Road, Brooklyn, in sheltered Sandbrook Inlet behind Long Island, with over 100 berths of 9-16 m plus commuter berths for daily or overnight stays.
Service area: Hawkesbury River
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Corleone Marinas
- Region
- Hawkesbury River
- Water body
- Hawkesbury River (Sandbrook Inlet)
- Wet berths
- 100
- Maximum vessel
- 16 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing, casual berthing
Facilities and services
- power & water
- fuel
- slipway
- swing moorings
- tender service
- commuter berths
- TV connection
- parking
- mechanical repairs
- shipwright
- marine electrical
- antifouling
- detailing
- vessel surveys
About Long Island Marina (Corleone Marinas)
Long Island Marina takes its name from the narrow island that shelters it, a nature reserve lying between the Hawkesbury River's main channel and Sandbrook Inlet at Brooklyn. The marina spreads along the mainland side of the inlet at 59-65 Brooklyn Road and is the largest berthing operation inside the rail bridge, with more than 100 wet berths. It belongs to the Corleone Marinas group, a Sydney family business with several marina sites across the harbour and the Hawkesbury, and it carries the group's characteristic formula: walk-on berths with full services, an on-site slipway and trades, and a berth-holder community rather than a transient crowd. The setting is striking even by Hawkesbury standards. Steep bush-covered slopes rise behind the road, Long Island's green ridge blocks the river breeze across the inlet, and the water in front of the pontoons stays flat in conditions that ruffle the main channel. The fleet is dominated by motor cruisers and yachts under 16 metres, a natural consequence of the rail bridge air draft limit outside, and many owners are Sydney-based, an hour's drive or a train ride away, using their boats as weekend bases for river cruising. The marina also runs commuter berths for daily or overnight stays, a nod to the way Brooklyn actually functions: people drive up, step aboard, and disappear upriver for a day or a week. Reviews consistently mention friendly staff and a close-knit atmosphere, and the scale of the place, big enough to support real trade services but small enough to know its customers, underpins that reputation.
Marina facilities
The marina offers over 100 berths ranging from 9 to 16 metres (30 to 52 feet), each supplied with power, water and TV connection, and complimentary on-site parking is included for berth holders. Alongside permanent berthing there are commuter berths bookable for daily or overnight stays, and a mooring field close to the marina accommodating boats up to 18 metres (60 feet); mooring customers get self-drive dinghies for access or can use the marina's tender service seven days a week, with customer parking again included. Fuel is available on site. The technical side is handled through Coast Marine, which operates two marine repair workshops and the marina's slipway, taking motor vessels to 18 metres. Coast Marine's published scope is broad: antifouling, boat detailing, hull, deck and topside repairs, vessel surveys and modifications, plus diagnosis, repair and maintenance of outboards, inboards and large diesel engines, with shipwright services and marine electrical installation and repair completing the picture. The practical effect is a single point of contact for nearly every maintenance need, from a routine antifoul to an engine repower, without moving the boat out of the inlet. Berthing enquiries go through the Corleone Marinas office on 02 9985 7538, and as part of a group the marina can steer customers towards its sister facilities elsewhere in Sydney when it suits. For owners weighing up Brooklyn's string of marinas, Long Island's differentiators are scale, the 7-day tender, the commuter berth option for irregular users, and having an operating slipway and workshop literally on the premises rather than a phone call away.
Local sailing knowledge
Getting to Long Island Marina means transiting the lower Hawkesbury and ducking under the rail bridge at Brooklyn, clearance 11.8 metres at mean high water springs, so the approach self-selects for powerboats and modest rigs. From Broken Bay the run is short and scenic: past Dangar Island, around into Sandbrook Inlet between Long Island and the mainland, keeping to the deeper water along the mooring lines. The inlet is one of the most sheltered bodies of water on the lower river, calm in a westerly when the main channel chops up, which is exactly why Brooklyn's marinas cluster here. Current through the bridge can be brisk at mid-tide but eases quickly inside. Once berthed, the whole Hawkesbury system is at your disposal. The river is navigable for more than 54 nautical miles from its entrance to the Windsor road bridge, and the immediate surrounds are national park on three sides: Ku-ring-gai Chase to the south and east, the sandstone gorges of the Muogamarra reserve country to the north. Classic overnight anchorages at Refuge Bay, Yeomans Bay and up Cowan Creek are within a couple of hours. Brooklyn village, an easy walk along Brooklyn Road, has cafes, a general store, a pub, seafood takeaways and the Hawkesbury River railway station, so crew can arrive by train and be aboard in minutes; the Brooklyn Ferry to Dangar Island and Little Wobby leaves from the public wharf. Houseboat and hire-boat traffic from the village's rental fleets shares the water on weekends, so expect company on fine Saturdays, but mid-week the inlet and the river beyond it can feel close to empty.