Marina service
Port of Eden (Snug Cove)
About
Port of Eden (Snug Cove) at a glance
Working port on Twofold Bay, the third deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere. Visiting yachts use the 150m Mooring Jetty (240V power, freshwater; rafting often required), diesel by road tanker, and Eden Slipway Services hauls vessels to about 25m/150t. A new 79-berth recreational marina with fuel berth, pump-out, wifi and amenities building is under construction behind the 2023 wave attenuator.
Service area: Sapphire Coast
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- Port Authority of NSW / Transport for NSW
- Region
- Sapphire Coast
- Water body
- Twofold Bay
- Maximum vessel
- 325 m
- Berth types
- casual berthing, superyacht berths
Facilities and services
- fuel
- slipway
- repairs & maintenance
- chandlery
- power & water
- 24hr public mooring buoys
- 415V three-phase power (Main Jetty)
- diesel by road tanker
- harbour master
- cruise wharf
- sewage pump-out (new marina)
- fuel berth (new marina)
- laundry (new marina)
- wifi (new marina)
About Port of Eden (Snug Cove)
Eden is a working port first and a boating destination second, and that is precisely what gives Snug Cove its character. The harbour occupies the northern corner of Twofold Bay, often cited as the third deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, and its jetties are shared between one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in New South Wales, Royal Australian Navy vessels, an expanding cruise ship trade and the cruising yachts that call in between Bermagui and Gabo Island. Timber trucks, fish unloading and water police movements carry on around you; this is not a polished resort marina but a genuine seaport with trawler masts against the hills. The human story here is unusually rich: shore-based whaling ran out of Twofold Bay for over a century, with the Davidson family and the killer whales led by Old Tom helping to drive whales onto the harpoons, a story told in full at the Eden Killer Whale Museum above the cove. Mussel leases work the bay and mussels are unloaded commercially near the wharves. Change is coming fast. A 366-metre wave attenuator, the centrepiece of the $36 million Eden Safe Harbour Project completed in 2023, now shelters the cove from the south-west swell that once made it marginal, and behind it Transport for NSW is building a 79-berth recreational marina that will transform the visitor experience. For now the Port Authority of NSW runs the jetties, with the port able to host vessels up to around 325 metres at the extended Breakwater (cruise) Wharf, which opened in 2019 and brings thousands of passengers ashore each season.
Marina facilities
Facilities for recreational craft remain lean while the new marina is built. Visiting yachts use the Mooring Jetty on the western side of Snug Cove, a 150-metre concrete-decked, steel-fendered structure fitted with 240V power outlets and freshwater; fresh water is in fact available at all Snug Cove jetties. Rafting alongside other vessels is routinely required, and priority is given to the fishing fleet, so a visiting vessel must move without delay if a fishing boat needs the space. In peak congestion yachts may be directed to the Main Jetty, which carries both 240V and 415V three-phase outlets, again with fishing vessels holding priority. The Breakwater Wharf is off limits without express Harbour Master permission. Mooring fees are paid to the Port Manager on 02 6493 3575, and a limited number of 24-hour public mooring buoys lie in the bay. There is no fuel wharf: diesel comes by road tanker arranged through South Coast Ice Supplies, the Caltex agent at Snug Cove (02 6496 2006). Eden Slipway Services operates the historic slipway between the jetties and hauls vessels to roughly 25 metres and 150 tonnes, with repair and maintenance support around the cove. The approved boating facility behind the attenuator will change everything: up to 79 wet berths with service pedestals supplying power, potable water, wifi and lighting at every berth, a dedicated fuel and sewer pump-out berth dispensing both diesel and unleaded petrol to the public, CCTV, firefighting equipment, and a two-storey building of about 700 square metres containing administration, public toilets, showers, laundry and a maritime workshop, plus more than 21 car spaces and eight car-and-trailer spaces. Construction is expected to run 18 to 24 months from 2024-25.
Local sailing knowledge
Approaching Eden is as easy as coastal navigation gets in New South Wales: Twofold Bay is deep, wide and free of bars, with clear water right up to the wharves and Green Cape lighthouse marking the southern headland of the broader bay. The catch is exposure. Snug Cove is open to the south-west, the Port Authority is explicit that it is not an all-weather harbour, and the owner carries responsibility for safe mooring at all times, so watch the forecast even inside the attenuator. Two exclusion zones matter: a 600-metre waterside zone around any naval ship at the Multi-Purpose Wharf, which can force yachts anchored in East Boyd Bay to clear out entirely when a warship arrives, and a 30-metre zone around all commercial shipping. Vessels should not be left unattended at the jetties for extended periods. Ashore, Imlay Street climbs from the cove to the town centre with supermarkets, pubs and the museum; the Welcome Centre near the Police Jetty houses the visitor information centre. Cat Balou Cruises and Freedom Charters run whale-watching and bay trips from their own pontoon, with humpbacks thick in the bay from September to November. Coastal skippers use Eden as the jump-off or landfall for the run around Gabo Island to Mallacoota, or north to Bermagui about 25 nautical miles away. Cattle Bay, just west of the attenuator, holds private swing moorings, and Boydtown on the far shore offers the restored Seahorse Inn and a quieter anchorage. Commercial mussel boats work leases about 600 metres south-west of the cove, so keep clear of marked lease lines.