About
Westernport Marina at a glance
Large marina at 21 Skinner Street, Hastings, offering wet berths, dry storage, undercover storage and hardstand cradles, plus a travel lift, crane and boat repair services. Fuel wharf sells unleaded and diesel.
Service area: Western Port
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Westernport Marina Pty Ltd
- Region
- Western Port
- Water body
- Western Port
- Dry storage
- Undercover & hardstand storage
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- travel lift
- hardstand
- repairs & maintenance
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- dry-storage launch/retrieve service
- lift-and-hold
- pressure water blasting
- forklift
- tow service
- fishing charters
- BBQ & picnic area
- contractor inductions
About Westernport Marina
Westernport Marina stands on Skinner Street at Hastings, on the eastern shore of Western Port, and it runs with the character of a working boatyard rather than a lifestyle precinct. The company, Westernport Marina Pty Ltd, has operated from this waterfront for decades, serving a town that still earns part of its living from fishing and marine industry, with the HMAS Cerberus naval base just along the coast. The marina's business is storage and maintenance as much as berthing: wet pens for keelboats and power boats, hardstand cradles, undercover storage sheds, and a dry-storage handling service that washes, flushes, retrieves and launches boats on demand. A 40-tonne travel lift and crane make it the main haul-out point for this side of the bay, and fishing charter operators work from the marina. The clientele mixes Western Port locals, Mornington Peninsula trailer-boat owners using the dry storage, and cruising yachts laying over before tackling the bay's tidal channels. There is no clubhouse glamour here; the facilities list runs to showers, a laundry, a barbecue area and parking at the water's edge, and the marina's published rules read like a proper boatyard's, right down to tagged electrical leads and inducted contractors. That practical focus, plus all-tide access to some of Victoria's best fishing water, is precisely what keeps the berths full. Hastings itself grew around fishing and the naval depot, and the marina still reflects that working-waterfront inheritance: the terms and conditions run to liens, tagged leads and inducted contractors rather than resort promises. For owners who want their boat hauled, blasted, serviced and stored under cover by the same outfit, that is exactly the appeal.
Marina facilities
Berthing spans wet pens with power and water, hardstand cradles, and undercover storage, with casual and permanent terms set out in a formal berthing agreement; boats can move between wet berth and hardstand within a term. The yard's centrepiece is a travel lift rated to 40 tonnes and 4.8 metres beam, backed by lift-and-hold, pressure water blasting, a crane, towing and forklift services, all charged at published rates. Dry-storage customers get a launch-and-retrieve service with washing and engine flushing on return. The fuel wharf sells unleaded and diesel, and refuelling is only permitted at that designated facility under the marina rules. Repairs and maintenance are actively supported: owners and outside contractors can work in designated areas after completing inductions, with work plans approved before hardstand occupation, and the marina's own boat repair services cover mechanical and hull work. Shore amenities include toilets, showers, a laundry room, a barbecue and picnic area, and generous parking at the water's edge. House rules are specific: wet-berth power leads must use a Clipsal 15-amp threaded plug and are tested and tagged annually; vessels must carry $5 million public liability cover; the speed limit inside is five knots; fob keys cost $55 with $20 refundable; and permanent liveaboard is prohibited, with no overnighting on the hardstand. Discharging effluent in the marina is a terminating offence, and waste oil and sewage must go ashore into provided receptacles. After-hours callouts and contractor entry attract fees. The office runs on (03) 5979 7400 and clientservices@westernportmarina.com.au. Boat sales and advertising aboard are only permitted with marina consent, and vessels must be insured and seaworthy to enter.
Local sailing knowledge
Western Port is not Port Phillip. The bay is shallow, tidal and laced with channels between extensive mudflats, with a tidal range around three metres and streams that run hard in the narrows, so passage planning here means following the marked channels and working the tide. Hastings sits on a dredged channel that carries the town's fishing fleet, and the marina enjoys all-tide access for typical recreational drafts, though deep-keel yachts pick their moments. Timing also matters at the fuel wharf and the lift on big tides. The reward is the fishing: Western Port produces snapper through the warmer months, King George whiting over the banks, calamari on the weed, and gummy sharks in the channels, and the charter fleet at the marina makes a living from it. Cruising destinations within the bay include French Island's Tankerton, the Rhyll and Cowes waterfronts on Phillip Island, and Newhaven; outside the western entrance, Flinders is the next refuge along the ocean coast. HMAS Cerberus occupies the point south of Hastings, and naval restricted areas and exclusion zones need checking on the chart. The bay's western shore is largely Ramsar-listed wetland, so anchorages are peaceful but shore access is limited. Hastings township, a short walk up the hill, has supermarkets, pubs, a bakery and marine suppliers, and the Hastings boat ramp next door handles the trailer-boat overflow on summer weekends. The marina's five-knot limit matches the creek's confined, fleet-shared water. Mornington and Port Phillip lie an hour's sail north around the top of the bay, so the marina also works as a staging post between the two bays for coastal cruisers waiting on weather.