Marina service
Marina St Vincent (Wirrina Marina)
About
Marina St Vincent (Wirrina Marina) at a glance
210-berth marina at Wirrina Cove, 90 km south of Adelaide, taken over by the SA Government in March 2020 and run by an on-site marina manager. Offers casual and longer-term berthing for vessels up to 20 m with power, water and pump-out included, plus a double boat ramp, CCTV, fuelling station and laundry/toilet facilities.
Service area: Fleurieu Peninsula - Gulf St Vincent
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- SA DIT; managed on site (MSV Management)
- Region
- Fleurieu Peninsula - Gulf St Vincent
- Water body
- Gulf St Vincent
- Wet berths
- 210
- Maximum vessel
- 20 m
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- boat ramp
- 24/7 security
- waste oil disposal
- double boat ramp with ticket machine ($10 single use)
- CCTV at berths
- working pontoons
- fire emergency capability
- on-site marina manager
- garbage disposal
- commercial operator annual licences
About Marina St Vincent (Wirrina Marina)
Marina St Vincent, usually just called Wirrina Marina, is a man-made harbour blasted and dredged into the Fleurieu Peninsula coast at Wirrina Cove, about 90 kilometres south of Adelaide between Second Valley and Normanville. It was built as the marine centrepiece of the Wirrina Cove resort development begun around 1972, which also produced the golf course, hotel and holiday flats that still wrap around the basin. The marina's commercial history has been turbulent, with years of legal and financial disputes between berth owners, managers and the state, until the Department for Infrastructure and Transport took the facility over in March 2020 and appointed an on-site manager. There are 210 berths taking vessels to 20 metres, a mix of permanently based Adelaide yachts and casual visitors making the easy day sail down Gulf St Vincent. The setting is striking in a spare, coastal way: steep grassy hills fall to the breakwaters, kangaroos graze around the marina-side apartments, and the only infrastructure beyond the marina itself is the resort, the holiday park and the HMAS Hobart memorial lookout toward Little Gorge. Cruising guides describe it bluntly as a secure hole to tuck into when the prettier anchorages nearby are untenable, and strong south-west gales can set up a surge inside, but it is the only all-weather harbour on this stretch of coast and an accepted staging point for the Kangaroo Island crossing. The Kaurna name Congeratinga survives in the creek that enters the cove. Berth occupancy has climbed steadily since the government takeover, as Adelaide owners priced out of metropolitan marinas have discovered that a 210-berth basin an hour and a half from the city is a workable compromise.
Marina facilities
The state government resumed management in March 2020, spent two years restoring pontoons, CCTV coverage and fire emergency capability, and from 1 July 2022 reintroduced fees collected by the contracted on-site manager, MSV Management, whose office takes card and cash payments during business hours. The 2023-24 published schedule charges casual berthing by length: vessels to 14.9 metres pay $50 overnight, with weekly rates from $125 for under 10 metres rising to $193 for 17 to 20 metres, and monthly rates from $244 to $319. Larger casual vessels of 15 metres and over pay $67 overnight. Every berthing fee includes berth mooring, water, power, garbage disposal, pump-out and temporary car parking, which makes the marina comparatively good value against Adelaide facilities. Permanent berthing is also available by arrangement with the marina manager, Doug Chapman, on (08) 8598 3115 or 0473 881 525. The double concrete boat ramp operates on a ticketing machine at $10 per single use, with annual commercial ramp access at $525 for fishing businesses and $1,050 for charter operators berthing in the marina. A fuelling station serves the basin, waste oil disposal is provided, and there are working pontoons for loading and maintenance alongside the main berthing arms. Amenities include toilets, showers and a laundry, with CCTV covering berth locations around the clock and gated access to the piers. There is no travel lift, slipway or hardstand within the marina, so haul-outs mean a passage north to Adelaide yards or arrangements with contractors at nearby ramps. Long-term berth holders should confirm current conditions with MSV Management, as fee reviews follow the state budget cycle each July.
Local sailing knowledge
The entrance sits at roughly 35 degrees 30 minutes south, 138 degrees 14.35 minutes east, cut straight into the coast with rock breakwaters; the published position is for reference, not a waypoint, but the harbour is visible from well offshore and entry is uncomplicated in normal conditions. Once inside there is shelter from all directions, though strong south-westers funnel a noticeable surge through the entrance, and extra fenders are worth rigging in a blow. The surrounding coast is open roadstead, which is why the marina earns its keep: Second Valley, a few minutes south, anchors comfortably in 6 metres over sand in north-east through east to south weather, and Rapid Bay further on offers the same pattern with the caveat of violent offshore gusts pouring down the valley. Adelaide sailors bound for Kangaroo Island, about 70 nautical miles across Backstairs Passage and Investigator Strait from the metro coast, commonly stage through Wirrina, and the Cape Jervis ferry terminal lies a short run south. There are no shops at the marina itself; the New Terry Hotel and golf resort up the hill provides meals, and the Wirrina Cove Holiday Park takes overflow crew, while Normanville, about seven kilometres north, has the nearest supermarket, bakery and fuel. A daily bus to Adelaide has historically passed on the highway, but it is a long walk up from the marina and cruisers should not plan around it. Fishing from the ramp and marina is productive, with squid over the inshore weed, whiting on the sand flats of Yankalilla Bay and the gulf's broader grounds within easy trailer-boat range. The HMAS Hobart lookout on the Normanville road commemorates the destroyer scuttled off Yankalilla Bay as a dive wreck.