About
Metung Marina at a glance
Council-managed floating marina on Bancroft Bay at Metung on the Gippsland Lakes, immediately adjacent to the village hotel, shops and the Shaving Point boat ramp.
Service area: Gippsland Lakes
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- East Gippsland Shire Council
- Region
- Gippsland Lakes
- Water body
- Bancroft Bay, Gippsland Lakes
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- gated berths
- shared power outlets
- published council fees
- Shaving Point boat ramp adjacent
- free public jetty berthing
- yacht club hardstand with 3t crane
- pump-out nearby at Paynesville/Duck Arm
- fuel nearby at Riviera Nautic
About Metung Marina
Metung is the postcard village of the Gippsland Lakes, a small settlement strung along a narrow neck of land with Bancroft Bay on one side and the open reach of Lake King on the other, and its marina sits right in the middle of the waterfront strip. The floating marina is managed by East Gippsland Shire Council and lies immediately beside the Metung Hotel, the village shops and the Shaving Point boat ramp, so a berth holder steps off the boat and straight into the main street. That adjacency defines its character: this is a village marina in the truest sense, used by a mix of long-term local berth holders, holiday boat owners who keep a cruiser here all season, and passing yachties who know that the free public jetty opposite the pub is one of the most famous overnight stops in Victorian cruising. Berths run from about 9 to 14 metres and change hands on council leases; listings show leases running to 2031 with annual outgoings around $1,600, so a Metung pen is a traded commodity in its own right. The marina has been progressively renewed with floating pens, and the whole foreshore, with its boardwalk, lawns and pelicans working the shallows, functions as the village common. Regatta weeks, when the Metung Yacht Club's Etchells, Dragons and couta boats fill the bay, show how deeply sailing is woven into the place. The village has long attracted Melbourne's sailing families, and many berths have passed through generations of the same crews. Even the arrival is theatrical, the marina appearing around the point after the open crossing of Lake King, with the hotel's verandah crowd watching who is coming in.
Marina facilities
The marina's berthing is administered by East Gippsland Shire under a detailed set of marina rules, and the fee structure is published. Recent schedules show an unserviced 9-metre alongside berth at $1,834 a year, a serviced 9-metre berth at $2,197, and 10-metre berths between about $2,990 and $3,199 depending on position, with longer licences, around five years at roughly $11,000 to $16,000, available at a discount. Berths carry shared power outlets and water, and the jetties are gated with keys issued to berth holders. The rules are worth reading before arrival: vessels must be seaworthy and move under their own power, live-aboard is prohibited, speed inside is five knots with no wash, mooring lines must be at least 12mm three-strand polyester for boats under 10 metres and 16mm above, and owners must hold $20 million public liability cover, with the certificate lodged annually. Major repairs, antifouling and external painting are banned in the pens; minor mechanical and electrical work is allowed. Casual visitors are really served by the public jetty and wharf berthing along the foreshore, where Gippsland Lakes colour coding applies and blue zones permit short-term and overnight stays at no charge. Right beside the marina is the Shaving Point boat ramp, rebuilt with Better Boating Victoria funding as a double ramp with fixed jetties and floating pontoons. The Metung Yacht Club next door has use of the shire hardstand with a 3-tonne crane and launching ramp for members. There is no fuel berth at the marina itself; the nearest fuel and paid showers are at Riviera Nautic in Chinaman's Creek, and pump-out points operate at Paynesville and Duck Arm.
Local sailing knowledge
Bancroft Bay is a natural amphitheatre sheltered from most quarters, which is why Metung became the Lakes' favoured rendezvous. Approaches from Paynesville via McMillan Strait and Lake King are deep and well marked; the only real caveat is the chop that Lake King throws up in a hard south-westerly, and the shallows that fringe the bay outside the channel. Inside the village, everything is within a few hundred metres: the Metung Hotel for counter meals with a water view, a general store, cafes and a couple of restaurants, and the boardwalk that follows the Bancroft Bay shoreline past the yacht club. Local lore includes Legend Rock in the bay, a small rocky outcrop tied to a Gunaikurnai story, and the resident pelican and swan population that works the jetty shallows. For anchoring out, Chinaman's Creek and Boxes Creek, a short run around the point, are the classic sheltered options, both fringed by private moorings but with quiet corners among the bush; Boxes Creek also holds Gippsland Ports pole moorings at modest annual fees. Up the rivers, the Tambo and Nicholson are reachable by shoal-draught boats, and Nungurner jetty offers another free overnight stop. Metung is busiest between Christmas and Australia Day, when securing a jetty berth outside the pub requires early arrival; by February the village settles back to locals. Fuel planning matters because there is no town bowser on the water, so most cruisers tank at Paynesville or Riviera Nautic before settling in for a few days. Yachts with taller rigs should also note the overhead cable warning signs posted around parts of the lakes system, though none restrict the main approaches to Metung itself.