Marina service
Port of Apollo Bay
About
Port of Apollo Bay at a glance
Breakwater-enclosed working harbour on the Great Ocean Road whose floating marina provides permanent berthing for 29 vessels, including 12 commercial fishing boats, plus 17 swing moorings. Slipway, boat ramp, CCTV and a free waste-oil disposal facility.
Service area: Great Ocean Road
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority
- Region
- Great Ocean Road
- Water body
- Apollo Bay harbour
- Wet berths
- 29
- Dry storage
- 17 swing moorings
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing, swing moorings
Facilities and services
- slipway
- boat ramp
- waste oil disposal
- power & water
- CCTV
- harbour dredging program
- lead lights/navigational aids
- crane truck hire
- workboat hire (Barrum, Urchin)
- pressure cleaner hire
- seasonal visiting fishing vessel wharf berthing
- harbour redevelopment underway
- fish gantry and washdown
About Port of Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay's harbour is a working port first and a marina second, which is precisely its character. Enclosed by two large breakwaters on one of the more exposed stretches of the Great Ocean Road, it shelters a commercial fleet of trawlers, crayfish boats and charter vessels whose fishing industry generates about $6.5 million a year for the local economy, alongside a floating marina of 29 permanent berths, 12 of them reserved for commercial fishing boats, and 17 swing moorings for mostly recreational craft. The modern port grew from a pier rebuilt in 1952; the old timber marina was replaced with a $1.6 million floating pontoon system in more recent years, and an $850,000 ramp upgrade in 2019 extended the pavement and added washdown water. A sandstone reef floors much of the inner harbour, leaving ground visible at low tide, and the entrance silts persistently, so the port runs its own dredge, the Apollo, to keep a navigable channel. Management passed from Colac Otway Shire to the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority on 1 July 2024, and a substantial harbour redevelopment is in delivery. The waterfront doubles as the town's promenade: the wharf and breakwaters are open to the public, the fishing cooperative sells from the boats, and visitors walk the walls watching stingrays in the shallows while the fleet unloads. The town itself grew on fishing, timber and the soldiers'-settlement farms behind the Otways, and the harbour remains its economic anchor, one of only a handful of safe havens on the long, harbour-poor coast between Port Phillip Heads and Portland. A photo from 1935 shows swell lines wrapping the point where the breakwaters now stand, evidence of what the fishing community invested to carve shelter out of an open, surf-swept bay.
Marina facilities
The floating marina provides 29 berths under 12-month permits, with a $289 waiting-list application fee and annual charges scaled by length: $3,291 for vessels under 12 metres, rising through $3,570 (12-15m) and $3,752 (15-18m) to $3,912 over 18 metres. Visiting boats can take short-term berths from $49 a day under 15 metres up to $166 a day over 30 metres, and seasonal alongside berthing on the main wharf is available for visiting fishing vessels. Swing moorings carry a $399 establishment fee and a $623 annual fee. Power and water are supplied at the marina. The port's slipway handles vessels for out-of-water maintenance and marine survey: slipping fees run $243 for boats under 10 metres, $352 to 15 metres, $699 to 20 metres and $1,216 beyond, with slip-yard occupancy charged daily from $107 to $352 depending on size; a new slipway cradle was installed in 2022 and the winch was repaired under a 2019 state grant. A free waste-oil disposal facility serves port users, and CCTV covers the harbour. Ancillary services include a crane truck with operator and dogman at $240 an hour, additional crew at $73 an hour, pressure-cleaner hire at $48 a day, and hire of the port workboats Barrum and Urchin with coxswain or master at $243 and $602 an hour respectively, all at higher after-hours rates. The Authority maintains lead lights for night entry and dredges the entrance and inner channel. The harbour team answers on (03) 5232 9475 or 0418 320 441 for navigation and berthing advice.
Local sailing knowledge
Entry demands respect. Apollo Bay faces south-west into Bass Strait swell, and the harbour entrance is prone to sand shoaling; the port's own dredge works the channel continuously, and lead lights guide night arrivals, but visiting skippers should call the harbour office for current depths before committing, especially after heavy weather. Inside the breakwaters the sandstone reef keeps much of the inner harbour thin at low water, so deeper vessels stick to the dredged channel and the marina basin. The nearest alternative refuges are a long way off: Lorne has no harbour and Port Fairy is hours west, which is why the fishing fleet and the volunteer coastguard both base here. For trailer boats the 2019-upgrade ramp gives all-tide access with a fish gantry and washdown, and parking and launching are free under Victoria's statewide policy. Outside, the water turns over crayfish, sharks and school fish, and local charters run for tuna in season. Ashore, the town is a genuine Great Ocean Road stop: the Apollo Bay Fishermen's Co-op sells cooked and fresh catch beside the wharf, cafes and a supermarket sit a short walk up the main street, and the Saturday foreshore market runs through summer. Historically the bay took its name from the schooner Apollo, and the harbour works of the 1950s turned an open roadstead into the port the fleet now depends on. A final quirk: aerial photos from the 1930s show swell lines wrapping the point where the breakwaters now stand, a reminder that this shelter was won from a surf coast.