Marina service
Prince of Wales Bay Marina
About
Prince of Wales Bay Marina at a glance
350-berth floating pontoon marina in Hobart's maritime precinct 10 minutes from the CBD, with deep water and all-weather shelter. 24/7 self-service fuel dock (diesel and ULP), pump-out station, The Marina Cafe and Spotty Dog Brewery on site.
Service area: Hobart / River Derwent
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Prince of Wales Bay Marina
- Region
- Hobart / River Derwent
- Water body
- Prince of Wales Bay
- Wet berths
- 350
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- power & water
- restaurant/cafe
- 24/7 self-service fuel dock with high and low flow diesel
- complimentary pump-out
- Swap n Go gas exchange
- two courtesy vehicles
- upgraded laundry
- WiFi
- boat ramp
- ice sales
- security patrols
- brewery and cafe on site
About Prince of Wales Bay Marina
Ten minutes' drive north of Hobart's centre, Prince of Wales Bay Marina spreads 350 floating berths across a deep, landlocked bay on the upper Derwent at Goodwood, making it the largest marina in Hobart's northern maritime precinct. The bay has been boat country for generations: fishing fleets, naval craft and workboats have long shared it with yachties, and the surrounding shore is a dense cluster of shipyards, riggers, engineers and chandleries that the Tasmanian maritime industry collectively calls its hub. The marina leans into that identity, presenting itself as a one-stop service centre rather than a resort, with the CleanLIFT haul-out complex next door handling the lifting while the marina keeps boats afloat, fuelled and serviced. The clientele is correspondingly mixed: local trailer-boat families and keelboat racers, live-aboard cruisers wintering over, commercial operators, and Sydney Hobart race yachts stopping for repairs or crew changes. Views run to kunanyi/Mount Wellington across the water, and the social fixtures are homegrown: The Marina Cafe for breakfast and lunch on the waterfront, and the Spotty Dog Brewery taphouse pouring local beer beside the piers. Security is tight, with card entry, round-the-clock camera coverage and patrols, reflecting the value of the boats and the working nature of the precinct. In a city where marina berths are chronically scarce, Prince of Wales Bay's scale and its deep-water, all-weather shelter make it the default answer for many Hobart boat owners. Environmentally cleaner operating practices are part of the marina's stated pitch, fitting the precinct's gradual shift from heavy industry toward a mixed recreational and commercial boat-service economy.
Marina facilities
The 350-berth floating pontoon system takes vessels to about 40 metres, with individually metered power connections and fresh water at the berths. The fuel dock is the workhorse of the operation: a 24/7 self-service facility dispensing high-flow and low-flow diesel plus unleaded petrol, with prices posted on the marina's own page (diesel around $2.29 and ULP $1.99 per litre when last listed), fresh water alongside, fixed lines and dock fenders to make refuelling single-handed straightforward, and a complimentary pump-out station on the same dock. Gas is handled with Swap n Go exchange in 3.7 and 8.5-kilogram bottles, and ice is sold. Amenity blocks provide modern showers and toilets, and the laundry was upgraded in December 2024 with three new washing machines and three dryers taking card or cash. Security combines card entry, 24-hour video surveillance and patrol officers, and Wi-Fi covers the piers. Two courtesy vehicles, a hatchback and a ute, are bookable in two-hour blocks for provisioning runs to the supermarkets, bottle shops, chandleries and hardware stores nearby, a genuinely useful perk for cruising crews without transport. The Marina Cafe opens Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 2pm for barista coffee and cooked meals over the water, the Spotty Dog Brewery provides the after-hours option, and a boat ramp serves trailer craft. Berth applications, casual and permanent, are made online or through the office on (03) 6272 6699, and the surrounding precinct supplies every marine trade from travel lifts and shipwrights to electronics, rigging and engineering within a short walk.
Local sailing knowledge
Approaching Prince of Wales Bay is about as undemanding as Tasmanian berthing gets: come up the Derwent's deep main channel past the Tasman Bridge, continue north under the Bowen Bridge's high spans, and turn into the bay, which offers all-weather shelter in depths that accommodate serious draft. There is no bar, no tidal gate and no bridge clearance issue for typical yachts, and the bay's high western shore takes the sting out of the prevailing westerlies. Once berthed, the precinct logic kicks in: almost any boat problem can be solved without leaving the bay, from a 70-tonne haul at CleanLIFT next door to rigging, electronics and stainless work along the shore, which is why so many interstate cruising boats schedule their Tasmanian maintenance stop here. Provisioning runs use the courtesy vehicles to Glenorchy's supermarkets five minutes away. For cruising from the bay, the Derwent offers easy day sails downstream to Battery Point, Sandy Bay and the Iron Pot at the river mouth, with Bruny Island and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel a comfortable day beyond, while upstream the river passes MONA at Berriedale, where the museum's own jetty admits visiting boats, and continues to New Norfolk for shoal-draft explorers. The waterfront café strip at Bellerive across the river makes a pleasant lunch run by boat. Winter sees the basin quiet and practical, summer brings the race-season traffic, and year-round the fishing fleet's comings and goings remind visitors that this remains a working harbour first. Tasman Bridge traffic noise occasionally drifts across on still nights, a small reminder that the CBD is only minutes away despite the harbour's enclosed, away-from-it feel.