⚠ NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Use official charts and tide tables. This page is a planning aid only. Navigate with the current AHO chart, MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice.

Cruising guides: Bundaberg to the Whitsundays

Official maps for this sectionMSQ Beacon to Beacon booklets cover 1770 to Keppel Bay (open the booklet, then the sheet you need; each place page links straight to its sheets). North of Keppel Bay there are none, so use the chart and the Reef Authority zoning maps.Discovery Coast booklet (PDF)Gladstone booklet (PDF)The Narrows booklet (PDF)Capricorn Coast booklet (PDF)Reef Authority zoning maps

Free planning notes for the run from Bundaberg up to the Whitsundays, written by a working delivery skipper. There are 13 place guides in 4 regions: 1770 and Gladstone, Keppel Bay and the Capricorn Coast, the Percy Isles and Mackay, then the Whitsundays. This is reef country from about Gladstone north, with big tides, long gaps between harbours and the Shoalwater Bay military area in the middle. Pick a region, or click a spot on the map.

Section: Bundaberg to the WhitsundaysSources: MSQ, NGA Pub. 127, Marine Rescue Queensland, the Reef Authority, OpenStreetMapLast checked: 27 October 2026

Map of the Queensland coast from Bundaberg to the Whitsundays with a numbered marker for each of the 13 cruising guide places, coloured by region. A small inset map of the Queensland coast from the Tweed to Cooktown shows this stretch boxed in gold.
Numbers match the list below; each name links to its guide. Inset locator drawn from Natural Earth (public domain). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Round Hill Creek & 1770 · 1770 & Gladstone
  2. 2Pancake Creek & Bustard Head · 1770 & Gladstone
  3. 3Gladstone Harbour & Marina · 1770 & Gladstone
  4. 4The Narrows & Curtis Island · 1770 & Gladstone
  5. 5Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon & Great Keppel · Keppel Bay & Capricorn Coast
  6. 6Port Clinton & Shoalwater Bay · Keppel Bay & Capricorn Coast
  7. 7Percy Isles & the Northumberlands · Percy Isles & Mackay
  8. 8Mackay Marina & Hay Point · Percy Isles & Mackay
  9. 9Brampton, Keswick & Seaforth · Percy Isles & Mackay
  10. 10Airlie Beach · Whitsundays
  11. 11Shute Harbour · Whitsundays
  12. 12Hamilton Island · Whitsundays
  13. 13Cid Harbour, Whitehaven & Nara Inlet · Whitsundays

Regions, south to north

1770 & Gladstone

Round Hill Creek and 1770 to Gladstone and The Narrows · 4 guides

Region overview →

Keppel Bay & Capricorn Coast

Rosslyn Bay and the Keppels to Shoalwater Bay · 2 guides

Region overview →

Percy Isles & Mackay

The Percy Group to Mackay and the southern Cumberlands · 3 guides

Region overview →

Whitsundays

Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and the Whitsunday Islands · 4 guides

Region overview →

Entrances and hazards on this stretch

Round Hill Creek at 1770 is a shallow, shifting bar for small boats on the tide. Pancake Creek is a narrow but deeper entrance that MSQ has just lit. Gladstone and Mackay are ship ports with VTS, so keep out of the way. MSQ warns The Narrows may dry at low water springs. Shoalwater Bay is Defence land and water and closes for exercises: the next live firing closure runs from 6 to 18 November 2026 (MSQ notice 554(T)/2026), so check the notices before you pass. North of Mackay, the Hay Point keep-out areas come first, then the islands.

Other sections

The coast is split into seven sections, north to south:

  1. Whitsundays to Cooktown (planned)
  2. Bundaberg to the Whitsundays (this section)
  3. Mooloolaba to Bundaberg
  4. Tweed to Mooloolaba
  5. Tweed to Newcastle (planned)
  6. Newcastle to Wollongong (planned)
  7. Wollongong to Gabo Island (planned)
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, MSQ notices to mariners, the tide tables, the zoning maps or a chat with the locals. Where a fact is getting old, the page says so.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a correction.

Sources and credits

Maritime Safety Queensland. Contains Maritime Safety Queensland data (Beacon to Beacon guide, notices to mariners, nav-aid open data, port procedures maps, tide information) © 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.

Queensland legislation. Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Regulation 2016 and Transport Infrastructure (Waterways Management) Regulation 2012 © State of Queensland, CC BY 4.0. Summarised; the authorised versions at legislation.qld.gov.au prevail.

NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (2025), U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are out of date; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.

OpenStreetMap. Map tiles and some facility positions © OpenStreetMap contributors, data available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).

Others. Facts from local authority pages and notices (for example the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Queensland Parks and Defence notices), volunteer marine rescue sites and businesses' own websites are cited for fact only and restated in our own words. Listing a business is not an endorsement.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Zoning maps and plans of management are linked, not reproduced; the official maps and the zoning plan prevail.

Natural Earth. Locator and card maps drawn from Natural Earth (public domain).

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