⚠ 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.

The Narrows & Curtis Island

Official MSQ Beacon to Beacon mapsN-1 map (PDF)N-2 map (PDF)N-3 map (PDF)N-4 map (PDF)N-5 map (PDF)N-6 map (PDF)CC-4 map (PDF)The Narrows enlargement (PDF)Free official PDFs from Maritime Safety Queensland. Each button opens the right sheet.
Tidal inside passage · shallow crossing · rampsLast checked: 27 October 2026Report a correction

The Narrows is the inside route between Gladstone and Keppel Bay, a long tidal channel between Curtis Island and the mainland. It saves you the trip round Cape Capricorn and keeps you out of the swell, but the middle bit near Ramsay Crossing is very shallow, and MSQ warns it may dry at low water springs. So it's a one-tide job: plan the crossing for the top of the tide, go with the stream, and have somewhere to wait at each end.

Map of The Narrows behind Curtis Island with markers for the Ramsay Crossing ramps and the Port Alma ramp.
The Narrows. Green: ramps. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Ramsay Crossing ramp · TMR CP52.
  2. 2Ramp south of Ramsay Crossing · TMR CP51, tide-limited.
  3. 3Port Alma ramp · TMR FY12.

At a glance
What it is Tidal passage behind Curtis Island, Gladstone to Keppel Bay
Shallowest Around Ramsay Crossing (MSQ sheet N-3)
Survey Most contours south of Sea Hill Point surveyed by MSQ in 2020; Graham Creek in 2011
Who to ask MSQ's booklet says Gladstone Marina (VHF 82) or Gladstone VTS (VHF 13) for tides and depths
Map age MSQ N-1 to N-6 current to 2 October 2024

Getting through

Plan the tide. MSQ's Narrows booklet is the one to have open. Its key sheet says most of the depth contours south of Sea Hill Point come from MSQ's 2020 survey, that Graham Creek was surveyed in 2011, and that some coastline and mangrove edges were drawn from 2021 to 2022 air photos. N-1 is the Sea Hill Point end, in Keppel Bay. N-6 is the southern end near Graham Creek. Sheet N-3 carries the big one: a caution that the water between Ramsay Crossing and Boat Creek may dry at Lowest Astronomical Tide.

Ask before you go. MSQ's booklet points you to Gladstone Marina on VHF 82 or Gladstone Harbour VTS on VHF 13 for advice on tides and depths through The Narrows. It also says CG Keppel Sands and CG Rockhampton can help at the northern end. That's local knowledge worth having.

Streams. NGA says the tide sets fairly strongly in and out of The Narrows past Sea Hill Point.

Anchoring

  • Sea Hill Point. NGA gives an anchorage in 11.9 m about 0.7 mile WNW of Sea Hill Point, with good shelter except from the north and north-west. Because of the stream, NGA suggests letting out more chain than the depth alone would call for.
  • Waiting for the tide. Pick a spot clear of the channel at either end. The N sheets show the deeper reaches.

Facilities

  • Ramps. TMR lists two ramps at Ramsay Crossing (one tide-limited) and one at Port Alma. There's nothing else to speak of along The Narrows itself.
  • Fuel and shops. Gladstone at the south end, Rosslyn Bay or Rockhampton at the north end.

Rules in brief

  • Ships at each end. Gladstone and Port Alma (Rockhampton) are both pilotage areas. Keep out of the ship channels.
  • Pipelines. ⚠ 513(T)/2026 covered a pipeline survey in The Narrows from 25 to 27 September 2026. It's past, but it shows there's gear on the bottom here. Don't anchor on charted pipelines or cables.

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: Ramsay Crossing ramp; Ramp south of Ramsay Crossing; Port Alma ramp.

OpenStreetMap shows no bars, restaurants, shops or marine stores within a 15-minute walk of the landings on this page.

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 the MSQ Beacon to Beacon guide The Narrows, sheets N-1 to N-6 (all current to 2 October 2024), and Capricorn Coast sheet CC-4 with enlargement D The Narrows (current to 16 June 2014) (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 paras 5.49 and 5.51 (Sea Hill Point anchorage, streams through The Narrows). MSQ Gladstone notice 513(T)/2026 (pipeline survey, 25 to 27 September 2026, now past) identified by title.

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? The banks here move; tell us if what you found differs. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 27 October 2026.

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