Keppel Bay & Capricorn Coast cruising guide
Keppel Bay and the Capricorn Coast run from the Fitzroy River mouth up past Yeppoon. Rosslyn Bay Boat Harbour is the all-weather stop, with a marina, ramps and fuel, and Great Keppel and the Keppel islands are a short hop offshore. North of Yeppoon there's about 100 miles of coast with no town and no fuel, most of it inside the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. Port Clinton, Pearl Bay and Island Head Creek are fine natural harbours, but Defence closes the area for exercises, including 6 to 18 November 2026 (MSQ notice 554(T)/2026).
- 1Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon & Great Keppel · Boat harbour + island anchorages
- 2Port Clinton & Shoalwater Bay · Military area + all-weather anchorage
Guides in this region, south to north
Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon & Great Keppel
Boat harbour + island anchorages
Rosslyn Bay Boat Harbour near Yeppoon: entrance, marina, ramps and fuel, plus the run out to Great Keppel and the Keppel islands. Not for navigation.
Port Clinton & Shoalwater Bay
Military area + all-weather anchorage
Port Clinton, Pearl Bay and Island Head Creek inside the Shoalwater Bay military area: closures, live firing and storm shelter. Not for navigation.
Entrances and hazards to plan around
- Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon & Great Keppel: Breakwater harbour; entrance channel may shoal between dredging (MSQ).
- Port Clinton & Shoalwater Bay: Bar of 1.8 to 5.2 m that breaks in a fresh breeze (NGA), inside a Defence area.
Check the Capricorn Coast notices before you go, and for Shoalwater Bay check them again the day you leave.
Neighbouring regions
- South: 1770 & Gladstone
- North: Percy Isles & Mackay
- Bundaberg to the Whitsundays (section map)
- All cruising guide sections
About these guides
These are planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources: MSQ maps and notices, NGA Pub. 127, the Reef Authority and OpenStreetMap. They are not for navigation. Use the official AHO charts, current MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice. Each page shows when its facts were last checked and dates every notice it quotes.
Sources & 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.
Need a boat moved through the Keppel Bay & Capricorn Coast region?
Get a delivery quoteNeed a delivery skipper for this coast? Get a quote from Capt. Garry Hartshorne, AMSA Master <45.