⚠ 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.

Port Clinton & Shoalwater Bay

No MSQ Beacon to Beacon map covers this waterMSQ's Beacon to Beacon series stops at Keppel Bay, so there's no MSQ boating map for Shoalwater Bay. Use the official chart and these:MSQ Beacon to Beacon guides (index)MSQ notice 554(T)/2026: live firing 6 to 18 Nov 2026 (PDF)Reef Authority zoning Map 14: Shoalwater Bay
Defence training area · storm anchorages · next closure 6–18 Nov 2026Last checked: 27 October 2026Report a correction

Between Yeppoon and Mackay there's about 100 miles of coast with no town, no fuel and no marina, and most of it belongs to Defence. The Shoalwater Bay Training Area takes in the land and a big chunk of the water, and it closes for exercises. Inside it, though, are some of the best natural anchorages on the coast: Port Clinton, Pearl Bay and Island Head Creek. Know the closure dates, read the notice, and they're a great overnight stop on the way north.

Map of Port Clinton and the coast north to Island Head with markers for the Port Clinton anchorage, the South Arm, Pearl Bay, Island Head Creek and two reported uncharted shoals.
Port Clinton to Island Head. Blue: anchorages; red: reported hazards; purple: features. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Port Clinton anchorage · OSM seamark.
  2. 2Port Clinton, South Arm · OSM.
  3. 3Entrance Island · OSM.
  4. 4Uncharted shoal 4.6 m (220(T)/2025) · Near Cape Clinton.
  5. 5Pearl Bay · OSM.
  6. 6Uncharted hazard 1 m LAT (439(T)/2025) · Pearl Bay.
  7. 7Island Head Creek · OSM.

At a glance
What it is Defence practice area with natural harbours and creeks
Closures By MSQ notice. Next: live firing 0600 Friday 6 November to 1200 Wednesday 18 November 2026 (554(T)/2026)
During that closure Freshwater, Port Clinton, West Water and South Arm CLOSED; Pearl Bay, Island Head Creek and Supply Bay OPEN (554(T)/2026)
Port Clinton bar 1.8 to 5.2 m, breaks in a fresh breeze (NGA)
Maps No MSQ Beacon to Beacon map. Chart and Reef Authority Map 14

The military area

NGA says Defence closes these waters during exercises by notice to mariners, and that you can still shelter from storms at Freshwater Bay, Port Clinton and Pearl Bay. NGA also says all creeks in the area are permanently closed to the public. MSQ's firing notices, though, list Island Head Creek as an open safe anchorage. Go by the latest MSQ notice, and if you're unsure, ring Defence Range Control (the number is on the notice).

Next closure. The October firing under MSQ notice 489(T)/2026 finishes at 1900 on Wednesday 28 October 2026. MSQ notice 554(T)/2026 (issued 13 October 2026) closes the Marine Danger Area again from 0600 on Friday 6 November to 1200 on Wednesday 18 November 2026. All waters, creeks, beaches and other areas inside it are off limits for that time, and the notice says entering is an offence under the Defence Regulation 2016, with fines or up to three months' jail, and you can be removed. The notice gives the boundary coordinates, and it warns the Defence Practice Area has grown and may not match older charts. This time it lists Freshwater, Port Clinton, West Water and South Arm as closed, and Pearl Bay, Island Head Creek and Supply Bay (Townshend Island) as open safe anchorages, and asks you to stay at least 500 m from any military vessel. Each exercise gets its own notice with its own open and closed list, so check the Capricorn Coast notices before every trip past here.

⚠ Background: an Airservices Australia supplement (H119/26) says Exercise Wallaby 2026 runs in the training area from 1 September to 3 November 2026. That's an aviation notice. For boats, go by the MSQ notices.

Getting in

⚠ Call marine rescue before you cross. Bar conditions change quickly and our notes can't keep up. Before crossing, contact QF11 Yeppoon (Australian Volunteer Coast Guard, Rosslyn Bay) for current bar conditions, and log on before you cross and off once you're through.

There's no rescue base on this stretch. QF11 Yeppoon to the south and MRQ Mackay to the north are the nearest units, so log on with one before you set off and tell them where you plan to stop.

Contacts checked on the unit's official website on 19 October 2026: www.mrq.qld.gov.au/rescue-units/qf11-yeppoon.

Port Clinton. NGA gives 1.8 to 5.2 m on the bar and says it breaks in a fresh breeze. Inside there's 9.1 to 28 m. The flood runs 2.5 to 3 knots. NGA says don't enter without local knowledge.

Hazards. ⚠ 220(T)/2025: an uncharted rock shoal of 4.6 m (LAT), about 120 by 60 m, near Cape Clinton at 22°34.352'S 150°48.186'E. ⚠ 439(T)/2025: an uncharted hazard at 1 m (LAT) in Pearl Bay at 22°25.396'S 150°43.661'E. Plot both before you go in.

Strong Tide Passage. NGA says the stream runs 5 to 6 knots and doesn't recommend it.

Anchoring

  • Port Clinton. NGA's secure anchorage is SW of Fish Rock in 10.9 to 16.5 m, with a temporary waiting spot NW of Round Islet in 12.8 m.
  • Pearl Bay. NGA gives an anchorage about 1.5 miles WSW of Dome Island in 6 to 13 m. Mind the 1 m hazard above.
  • Island Head Creek. NGA says it's obstructed by rocky shoals and that small craft with local knowledge keep close to the south shore. Its secure anchorage is about 1 mile NW of Pinetrees Point in 7 to 16 m.

Facilities

Nothing. No fuel, water or shops between Rosslyn Bay and Mackay, so top up before you leave.

Rules in brief

  • Defence. Closures by MSQ notice. NGA says the creeks are permanently closed to the public, so check the current notice before going up any creek.
  • Marine park. Reef Authority Map 14 (Shoalwater Bay) shows the zones.

Ashore

What's within about a 15-minute walk (1.2 km) of each marina, ramp or landing on this page, measured along streets and footpaths in OpenStreetMap. Addresses are from OpenStreetMap where it has one; where it doesn't, we show the name and distance only. ⚠ As at 18 October 2026: we haven't confirmed each place is still trading, so check before you walk.

Nothing mapped within the 15-minute walk of: Port Clinton anchorage; Pearl Bay; Island Head Creek.

This whole coast is Defence land. There are no shops, bars or services ashore, and OpenStreetMap shows none.

No marine stores or chandlers are mapped in OpenStreetMap within the walk; see the Facilities section above for marine businesses we know of.

Places, types, addresses and walking distances: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), fetched 18 October 2026.

About this page

These are free planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources. They are not for navigation. Use the official chart, current MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice. Spotted something out of date? Please use Report a correction below.

Official links

Check these before you go. They beat anything on this page.

Sources & credits

Written in our own words from NGA Pub. 127 paras 5.54 to 5.56 (no MSQ Beacon to Beacon map covers this coast) (read 19 October 2026; each MSQ sheet carries its own 'information current to' date, quoted on the page), NGA Pub. 127 Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (2025), the MSQ notices-to-mariners listings on publications.qld.gov.au (notices named on the page read in full on 19 October 2026; notice lists rechecked 27 October 2026), the Queensland Government (TMR) recreational boating facilities list (fetched 19 October 2026), Marine Rescue Queensland unit pages (checked 19 October 2026), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority zoning pages (linked, not reproduced) and OpenStreetMap. MSQ notices 489(T)/2026 (live firing 20 to 28 October 2026), 220(T)/2025 and 439(T)/2025 read in full on 19 October 2026; 554(T)/2026 (issued 13 October 2026, live firing 6 to 18 November 2026) read in full on 27 October 2026. Airservices Australia AIP supplement H119/26 (Exercise Wallaby 2026, airspace) noted for background only.

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.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Closures change with every exercise; tell us if we're out of date. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 27 October 2026.

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