Bowen & Cape Upstart cruising guide
North of the Whitsundays the coast opens out. Bowen has a state boat harbour on Edgecumbe Bay; NGA says its port wharves now serve only fishing vessels and the Abbot Point tugs. West of Bowen is the Abbot Point coal terminal, where launches from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport switch on a safety exclusion area. Cape Upstart, about halfway to Townsville, gives an anchorage off a sandy beach south of the cape, and Upstart Bay behind it has two small creek entrances with moving sandbanks.
- 1Bowen · Boat harbour + bay anchorages
- 2Cape Upstart & Upstart Bay · Headland anchorage + creek entrances
Guides in this region, south to north
Bowen
Boat harbour + bay anchorages
Bowen's boat harbour, ramps and Edgecumbe Bay anchorages, Gloucester Passage, Abbot Point and the spaceport zone. Not for navigation.
Cape Upstart & Upstart Bay
Headland anchorage + creek entrances
Cape Upstart's anchorage, Upstart Bay, the Molongle Creek and Wunjunga entrances and the Burdekin bars. Not for navigation.
Entrances and hazards to plan around
- Bowen: State boat harbour with a public entrance channel (TMR). Gloucester Passage: least depth 1.8 m, local knowledge only, never at night (NGA).
- Cape Upstart & Upstart Bay: Anchorage in 7 to 13 m off a sandy beach close S of the cape (NGA). Molongle Creek and Wunjunga: mobile seabed (MSQ).
Before passing Abbot Point, listen on VHF 12 and 16 for space-launch exclusion broadcasts, and read the current MSQ notices for the Abbot Point area and North Queensland.
Neighbouring regions
- Next section south: Bundaberg to the Whitsundays
- North: Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
- Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and the Whitsunday Islands are covered in the Bundaberg to the Whitsundays section.
- Whitsundays to Cooktown (section map)
- All cruising guide sections
About these guides
These are planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources: Maritime Safety Queensland notices and port procedures, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Transport and Main Roads boating facilities data, Queensland Government croc and stinger advice, Marine Rescue Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology, NGA Pub. 127 and OpenStreetMap. They are not for navigation. Use the official chart, current notices, official tide tables and local advice. Each page shows when its facts were last checked.
Sources & credits
Maritime Safety Queensland. Contains Maritime Safety Queensland data (notices to mariners, and the port procedures and information for shipping for Abbot Point, Townsville, Lucinda, Mourilyan, Cairns, and Cape Flattery, Cooktown and Port Douglas) © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts restated and summarised in our own words. Not endorsed by MSQ or TMR.
Transport and Main Roads. Ramp, jetty and pontoon details from the Recreational Boating Facilities Queensland dataset © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads) 2021, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU, fetched 30 October 2026. Not endorsed by TMR.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Zoning, site-specific management, plan of management, no-anchoring area and public moorings information © Commonwealth of Australia (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), licensed under CC BY 4.0, summarised in our own words. Zoning maps are linked, not reproduced; the official maps and the zoning plan prevail. Not endorsed by the Reef Authority.
Queensland Government. Crocodile and marine stinger safety advice from qld.gov.au (CC BY 4.0), summarised. Marine Rescue Queensland unit details from the MRQ website, checked on the date shown in each rescue box.
Bureau of Meteorology. Tropical cyclone season information, forecasts, warnings and tide pages are linked, not reproduced.
NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are old; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.
OpenStreetMap. Map tiles, facility positions and the Ashore lists © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Need a boat moved through the Bowen & Cape Upstart region?
Get a delivery quoteNeed a delivery skipper for this coast? Get a quote from Garry Hartshorne, AMSA Master <45.
Cruising guides: Whitsundays to Cooktown
Free planning notes for the run north from the Whitsundays to Cooktown, written by a working delivery skipper. There are 14 place guides in 5 regions: Bowen and Cape Upstart, Townsville with Magnetic Island and the Palm Islands, Hinchinbrook and the Cassowary Coast, Cairns and Fitzroy Island, and Port Douglas to Cooktown. It's reef country inside the Great Barrier Reef, with working ship ports at Townsville and Cairns, shallow river bars, crocodiles, stingers and the cyclone season. Pick a region, or click a spot on the map.
- Bowen & Cape Upstart
- Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
- Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
- Cairns & Fitzroy Island
- Port Douglas to Cooktown
- 1Bowen · Bowen & Cape Upstart
- 2Cape Upstart & Upstart Bay · Bowen & Cape Upstart
- 3Townsville: Breakwater Marina & Ross Creek · Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
- 4Magnetic Island · Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
- 5Palm Islands & Orpheus Island · Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
- 6Lucinda & the Hinchinbrook Channel · Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
- 7Cardwell & Port Hinchinbrook · Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
- 8Dunk Island & Mission Beach · Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
- 9Mourilyan Harbour & Innisfail · Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
- 10Fitzroy Island · Cairns & Fitzroy Island
- 11Cairns & Trinity Inlet · Cairns & Fitzroy Island
- 12Port Douglas & Dickson Inlet · Port Douglas to Cooktown
- 13Low Isles · Port Douglas to Cooktown
- 14Cooktown & the Endeavour River · Port Douglas to Cooktown
Regions, south to north
Bowen & Cape Upstart
Bowen's boat harbour, Edgecumbe Bay, Abbot Point and Cape Upstart · 2 guides
Region overview →Townsville, Magnetic Island & the Palms
Townsville's marinas and Ross Creek, Magnetic Island's bays and the Palm Islands · 3 guides
Region overview →Hinchinbrook & the Cassowary Coast
Lucinda, the Hinchinbrook Channel, Cardwell, Dunk Island, Mission Beach, Mourilyan and Innisfail · 4 guides
- Lucinda & the Hinchinbrook Channel
- Cardwell & Port Hinchinbrook
- Dunk Island & Mission Beach
- Mourilyan Harbour & Innisfail
Cairns & Fitzroy Island
Fitzroy Island and Cairns, with Trinity Inlet and Marlin Marina · 2 guides
Region overview →Port Douglas to Cooktown
Port Douglas and Dickson Inlet, Low Isles, and Cooktown on the Endeavour River · 3 guides
Region overview →Entrances and hazards on this stretch
The whole stretch is inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: check the zoning map, keep out of the no-anchoring areas and use the public moorings where they're laid (Reef Authority). Townsville and Cairns are working ship ports with VTS on VHF 12 and 16; Abbot Point has a coal terminal and a space-launch exclusion area that is broadcast when active. River and creek entrances shoal and shift: the Johnstone River bar at Innisfail, Enterprise Channel at Lucinda, Molongle Creek and the Daintree are all subject to current notices about mobile seabed. Cooktown is a small river port that NGA strongly advises against entering without local knowledge. From April to November the south-east trade current sets north-west at about 0.5 to 1.2 kn north of Cairns; the cyclone season runs from 1 November to 30 April (NGA Pub. 127; Bureau of Meteorology).
Weather, cyclones, crocs and stingers
The official tropical cyclone season runs from 1 November to 30 April, though cyclones can form outside it (Bureau of Meteorology). On 30 October 2026 the Bureau had not yet published its 2026–27 tropical cyclone outlook. Check the Bureau's coastal waters forecasts and warnings before every leg.
Crocodile habitat starts near Gladstone and runs north, and estuarine crocodiles can be in any waterway or the sea in that area. Marine stingers, including box jellyfish and Irukandji, are in tropical Queensland waters all year, with higher risk from November to May (Queensland Government). Read the croc and stinger advice linked on each page before you swim or take the tender ashore.
Other sections
The Australian coast is split into 8 sections, from north to south and then west into Victoria. 8 Australian sections planned, 6 written, plus Tonga:
- Whitsundays to Cooktown (this section)
- Bundaberg to the Whitsundays
- Mooloolaba to Bundaberg
- Tweed to Mooloolaba
- Tweed to Newcastle (planned)
- Newcastle to Wollongong
- Wollongong to Gabo Island (planned)
- Gabo Island to Melbourne
Pacific: Tonga (4 regions, 11 place guides)
See all sections on the map →How to use these guides
Every guide is a planning aid: what to expect, who to call, and where to look for the official word. None of it replaces the current chart, the MSQ notices to mariners, the Reef Authority zoning maps, the tide tables or a chat with the locals.
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a correction.
Sources and credits
Maritime Safety Queensland. Contains Maritime Safety Queensland data (notices to mariners, and the port procedures and information for shipping for Abbot Point, Townsville, Lucinda, Mourilyan, Cairns, and Cape Flattery, Cooktown and Port Douglas) © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts restated and summarised in our own words. Not endorsed by MSQ or TMR.
Transport and Main Roads. Ramp, jetty and pontoon details from the Recreational Boating Facilities Queensland dataset © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads) 2021, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU, fetched 30 October 2026. Not endorsed by TMR.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Zoning, site-specific management, plan of management, no-anchoring area and public moorings information © Commonwealth of Australia (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), licensed under CC BY 4.0, summarised in our own words. Zoning maps are linked, not reproduced; the official maps and the zoning plan prevail. Not endorsed by the Reef Authority.
Queensland Government. Crocodile and marine stinger safety advice from qld.gov.au (CC BY 4.0), summarised. Marine Rescue Queensland unit details from the MRQ website, checked on the date shown in each rescue box.
Bureau of Meteorology. Tropical cyclone season information, forecasts, warnings and tide pages are linked, not reproduced.
NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are old; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.
OpenStreetMap. Map tiles, facility positions and the Ashore lists © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Natural Earth. Locator and card maps drawn from Natural Earth (public domain).
Need a boat moved between the Whitsundays and Cooktown?
Get a delivery quoteNeed a delivery skipper for this coast? Get a quote from Garry Hartshorne, AMSA Master <45.