⚠ 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.

Pancake Creek & Bustard Head

Official MSQ Beacon to Beacon mapsDC-2 map (PDF)DC-1 map (PDF)Free official PDFs from Maritime Safety Queensland. Each button opens the right sheet.
Creek anchorage · newly lit buoys · lighthouse ashoreLast checked: 27 October 2026Report a correction

Pancake Creek is the classic overnight stop on the Discovery Coast, a narrow creek just west of Bustard Head with proper depth in the fairway and good shelter once you're in. After a slog north from Bundaberg it's a lovely spot: sand, mangroves, and the old Bustard Head lighthouse up on the hill. MSQ has just lit the buoys, which makes a late arrival a bit less stressful, but it's still a creek entrance that wants daylight if you've never done it.

Map of Pancake Creek and Bustard Head with markers for the approximate creek entrance and the Bustard Head lighthouse.
Pancake Creek and Bustard Head. Blue: anchorage area (approximate); purple: light. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Pancake Creek, approximate (NGA) · NGA position, not a waypoint.
  2. 2Bustard Head lighthouse · OSM.

At a glance
What it is Narrow creek entrance and sheltered anchorage
Depth Least 3.7 m in the fairway (NGA)
Hazards Rock ledges drying 1.8 m off the east side; Shelter Spit, drying 1.5 m, on the west side (NGA)
Lights Port 4, 6 and 8 Fl R 2.5s; starboard 3 Fl G 2.5s; starboard 1 Fl G 3s (MSQ 443/2026)
Map age MSQ DC-2 current to 6 February 2020, with no soundings

Getting in

⚠ Call marine rescue before you cross. Bar conditions change quickly and our notes can't keep up. Before crossing, contact MRQ Gladstone (Marine Rescue Gladstone) for current bar conditions, and log on before you cross and off once you're through.
  • Log on/off: phone (07) 4972 3333 or mobile 0417 681 921. MRQ says it monitors VHF 82 and 16, crewed 6:30 am to 6 pm daily, with a 24-hour watch run with Gladstone VTS
  • Emergency: VHF 16 or Triple Zero (000)

Pancake Creek sits between the MRQ Round Hill and MRQ Gladstone areas. With Round Hill radio suspended, MRQ Gladstone is the one to log on with.

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

Approach. Bustard Head has a light on its south-east point and another on Clews Point at the north-west end. NGA warns of a reef of rocks running 1.7 miles NNE from Bustard Head, with Inner, Middle and Outer Rocks on it, covered by the red sector of Bustard Head light. Off the head, NGA says the tide sets NW on the rise and SE on the fall at about 2 knots.

The entrance. NGA describes it as narrow, with a least depth of 3.7 m in the fairway. Rock ledges that dry 1.8 m stick out about 0.2 mile on the east side, and Shelter Spit forms the west side. NGA says the edge of the spit is easy to see. Since 12 August 2026 (MSQ notice 443/2026), port buoys 4, 6 and 8 flash red every 2.5 seconds and starboard buoy 3 flashes green every 2.5 seconds. Starboard 1 was already lit, Fl G 3s.

Anchoring

  • In the creek. NGA says small vessels with local knowledge can anchor in the creek in about 4 m with good shelter, and that streams run 1.5 to 2 knots. Allow for the swing at the turn of the tide.
  • MSQ maps. DC-2 is drawn from 2018 satellite imagery with no soundings, so don't expect depth contours inside.

Facilities

None to speak of. This is national park country, so come stocked up. The nearest fuel and shops are back at 1770 or on to Gladstone.

Rules in brief

  • Marine park. Check the Reef Authority zoning maps and the Queensland marine park zoning before you fish.
  • Notices. Capricorn Coast notices cover Pancake Creek.

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: Pancake Creek, approximate (NGA).

OpenStreetMap shows no bars, cafes, shops or marine stores within a 15-minute walk of the creek. This is a national park coast; bring what you need.

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 MSQ Beacon to Beacon Discovery Coast sheet DC-2 (current to 6 February 2020) (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. NGA Pub. 127 Sector 5 (Bustard Head and Pancake Creek). MSQ notice 443/2026 (12 August 2026) read in full on 19 October 2026.

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? Tell us if the buoys or the depths have changed. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 27 October 2026.

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