Wide Bay Bar & Double Island Point

The Wide Bay Bar is the one everybody talks about. It's the southern door into the Great Sandy Strait, between Inskip Point on the mainland and Hook Point on the southern tip of K'gari, and on a delivery north it saves you the long haul round Sandy Cape and Breaksea Spit. It also has a reputation, and it's earned. MSQ says not to attempt it without local knowledge, the banks move constantly, and the breaking water can run a long way out. Do your homework, ring Tin Can Bay, and be ready to wait at Double Island Point if it isn't right.

At a glance

Getting here

From the south. Double Island Point is 28 miles north of Noosa Head and carries a light. NGA warns of Wolf Rock, awash about 1.2 miles NNE of the point, with a 4 m rocky shoal between the rock and the point, so give the headland room. Wide Bay is the 10.5-mile curve of beach running north-west to Inskip Point.

The bar

NGA describes the bar across the entrance to Wide Bay Harbour as visible by the colour of the water or the sea breaking on it, crossable only in good weather, at or near high water, by light-draft vessels with local knowledge. Inside the entrance, between Hook Point and Inskip Point, the water is deep and steep-to.

MSQ looks after it closely. Since 2022 it has shown virtual aids to navigation on AIS: a safe-water fairway mark and port and starboard lateral marks over the best water, repositioned after each survey. MSQ is clear that they're buoys to pass on the correct side, not waypoints to steer at or over, and that they mustn't be your only means of navigation. Port entry lights stand on Hook Point and on Inskip Point (the SS Dorrigo light).

The current notice (MSQ 384(T)/2026, issued 16 July 2026, read 19 October 2026). MSQ surveyed the bar in June 2026 and shows the depths on chartlet Map S11-799 (survey 21 June 2026), with the virtual aids moved onto the best water. MSQ warns the sandbars keep moving, so the chartlet may already be out of date. Because shoals off Hook Point and near the WB6 virtual port mark have moved, the white sector of the Dorrigo light no longer gives the best course behind the bar. MSQ's directions coming in (reverse them going out):

1. Line up on the Hook Point light and run in on its white or green sector.
2. When the Dorrigo light is visible, come onto its solid green sector and run down it. That keeps you off the bank encroaching on its red and white sectors near WB6.
3. When Hook Point light bears 270° true, turn south until the Dorrigo red sector shows, then follow the red sector. That keeps you off the bank off Hook Point near WB3, which crosses the green and white sectors.
4. Leave WB5 to starboard and carry on west.

The chartlet gives the Hook Point centreline as 247.5° true and the Dorrigo centreline as 222° true. Download the notice and chartlet before you go (Maryborough list, linked below), and load the aid positions if your plotter doesn't show AIS aids. MSQ and the notice both say to get the latest bar conditions from the Tin Can Bay unit.

MSQ's GSS-10 sheet adds two warnings worth reading twice: conditions can change fast with tide, swell and wind, and take extreme care crossing in the afternoon, especially from seaward, when the sun makes the leading lights hard to see. Lifejackets are compulsory in open boats under 4.8 m.

Anchoring and waiting

• Double Island Point. NGA's anchorage is about 2.5 miles west of the point in 11 m, as long as the wind is south of ESE. It's the classic spot to wait for the tide, daylight or a drop in the swell.
• Inside. NGA gives anchorage in the deep channel of Wide Bay Harbour, and good anchorage about 0.2 of a mile off the south-west side of K'gari, roughly 1.5 miles NW of the western end of Inskip Point. MSQ's sheet names Pelican Bay inside Inskip. Expect strong tidal streams and the vehicle barges running across to Hook Point.

Facilities

None at the bar itself. The Inskip and Hook Point vehicle barges and the Bullock Point ramp are on the inside, and Tin Can Bay, about 8 miles south through the inlet, has fuel, a boat harbour and the MRQ base.

Rules in brief

• Bar. Designated coastal bar. Log on with MRQ Tin Can Bay before you cross and log off once you're through.
• Marine park. You're entering the Great Sandy Marine Park, so check the zoning before you fish or anchor.
• Notices. Maryborough pilotage area list. Check it the day you cross.

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: Hook Point ferry; Inskip ferry (Rainbow Beach); Bullock Point ramp; Carlo Point 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.

• MSQ notices to mariners, Maryborough pilotage area (Wide Bay Bar, Great Sandy Strait, Urangan)
• BoM: Fraser Island coast waters forecast
• Great Sandy Marine Park zoning (Queensland Government)
• MSQ: crossing a coastal bar (safety advice)
• Queensland notices to mariners, all areas (subscribe)
• MSQ Queensland tide tables
• Bureau of Meteorology: tide predictions
• Bureau of Meteorology: Queensland warnings (incl. marine wind warnings)
• Bureau of Meteorology: Queensland coastal waters forecasts

Sources & credits