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

Gabo Island & East Gippsland cruising guide

Official Victorian sources for this areaParks Victoria: Gabo Island HarbourGippsland Ports: Port of Mallacoota InletGippsland Ports: Lakes Entrance bar navigation warningGippsland Ports: Port of Gippsland LakesGippsland Ports notices to marinersFree official pages and PDFs from the Victorian port managers. Read the current notices before you go. Not for navigation.
Gabo Island, Mallacoota, the Lakes Entrance bar and the Gippsland Lakes · 3 guidesLast checked: 28 October 2026Report a correction

The section starts at Gabo Island, the first stop in Victoria after Cape Howe, with a small harbour, a jetty and an anchorage on its west side. Mallacoota's inlet is beautiful but its entrance shifts and closes. Further west, Lakes Entrance is a dredged ocean bar with its own closure signals, and behind it the Gippsland Lakes give a big stretch of sheltered water around Metung and Paynesville. Gippsland Ports manages the inlet, the bar and the lakes.

Map of the Gabo Island & East Gippsland region (Gabo Island, Mallacoota, the Lakes Entrance bar and the Gippsland Lakes) with a numbered marker for each of its 3 cruising guide pages.
Numbers match the guide list below. Each name links to its page. Positions are approximate. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Gabo Island & Mallacoota · Island anchorage + closing inlet
  2. 2Lakes Entrance bar · Dredged ocean bar
  3. 3Gippsland Lakes: Metung & Paynesville · Sheltered lakes + bridges

Guides in this region, east to west

Gabo Island & Mallacoota

Island anchorage + closing inlet

Gabo Island's harbour and anchorage, Bastion Point ramp and the Mallacoota Inlet entrance, which can close. Free notes. Not for navigation.

Last checked: 28 October 2026

Lakes Entrance bar

Dredged ocean bar

Crossing the Lakes Entrance bar: the leads, the dredge, closure signals, live wave and tide data and when to go. Not for navigation.

Last checked: 28 October 2026

Gippsland Lakes: Metung & Paynesville

Sheltered lakes + bridges

The Gippsland Lakes inside Lakes Entrance: Metung, Paynesville, the channels, bridge and cable clearances, moorings and anchorages.

Last checked: 28 October 2026

Entrances and hazards to plan around

  • Gabo Island & Mallacoota: NW-side anchorage for one vessel in 9.1 m (NGA); the Mallacoota Inlet entrance shifts and closes (Gippsland Ports).
  • Lakes Entrance bar: Dredged ocean bar; the front lead moves and changes go out by notice. Closed when the fixed yellow light and two black balls show.
  • Gippsland Lakes: Metung & Paynesville: Reached only over the Lakes Entrance bar. Shallow patches are not always marked; avoid night passages (Gippsland Ports).

Before crossing any bar, read the current Gippsland Ports notices to mariners and navigation warnings, check the live wave and tide data, and call the local Coast Guard on VHF.

Neighbouring regions

About these guides

These are planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources: Parks Victoria, Gippsland Ports and Ports Victoria notices and guides, the Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook, the Bureau of Meteorology, NGA Pub. 127 and OpenStreetMap. They are not for navigation. Use the official chart, current notices, official tide tables and local advice. Each page shows when its facts were last checked.

Sources & credits

Parks Victoria. Facts from the Parks Victoria notices to mariners, the Port Phillip and Western Port Recreational Boating Guides, the boating and swimming zones pages and the Gabo Island, Refuge Cove and Wilsons Promontory pages, restated and summarised in our own words. Parks Victoria web content is CC BY 4.0 unless marked otherwise; the boating guides and notices are linked, not reproduced. Not endorsed by Parks Victoria.

Gippsland Ports. Facts from Gippsland Ports notices to mariners, navigation warnings, local navigation notices and port pages, cited for fact only and linked, not reproduced. The current notices prevail.

Ports Victoria. Notices to mariners for the ports of Melbourne, Geelong and Hastings, cited for fact only.

Safe Transport Victoria. Facts from the Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook (2024 edition), restated in our own words and linked, not reproduced. The handbook and the Marine Safety Act 2010 and its regulations prevail.

Bureau of Meteorology. Tide, tidal stream and forecast pages are linked, not reproduced; the Port Phillip Heads slack-water guidance is summarised.

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

OpenStreetMap. Map tiles, facility positions and the Ashore lists © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Victorian Government. Marine search and rescue units from the vic.gov.au unit list, checked on the date shown in the rescue box.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.

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