⚠ 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.

Cruising guides: Mooloolaba to Bundaberg

Free planning notes for the stretch from Mooloolaba to Bundaberg, written by a working delivery skipper. There are 12 place guides in 3 regions: the Sunshine Coast rivers and Noosa, the Wide Bay Bar and the Great Sandy Strait, then Hervey Bay up to the Burnett River. This is bar country, so read the bar pages before you go. Pick a region, or click a spot on the map.

Section: Mooloolaba to BundabergSources: MSQ, NGA Pub. 127, Marine Rescue Queensland, OpenStreetMapLast checked: 19 October 2026

Map of the Queensland coast from Mooloolaba to Bundaberg with a numbered marker for each of the 12 cruising guide places, coloured by region. A small inset map shows where this stretch sits on the Queensland coast, boxed in gold.
Numbers match the list below; each name links to its guide. Inset locator drawn from Natural Earth (public domain). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Maroochy River · Sunshine Coast & Noosa
  2. 2Noosa Bar & Noosaville · Sunshine Coast & Noosa
  3. 3Noosa Lakes & Everglades · Sunshine Coast & Noosa
  4. 4Wide Bay Bar & Double Island Point · Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay
  5. 5Tin Can Bay & Snapper Creek · Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay
  6. 6Southern Great Sandy Strait · Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay
  7. 7Mary River, River Heads & Maryborough · Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay
  8. 8Kingfisher Bay & the Northern Strait · Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay
  9. 9Urangan Boat Harbour & Hervey Bay · Hervey Bay & Bundaberg
  10. 10Burrum Heads & Woodgate · Hervey Bay & Bundaberg
  11. 11Burnett Heads & Bundaberg Port Marina · Hervey Bay & Bundaberg
  12. 12Burnett River to Bundaberg · Hervey Bay & Bundaberg

Regions, south to north

Sunshine Coast & Noosa

Maroochy River to Noosa and the lakes · 3 guides

Region overview →

Great Sandy Strait & Wide Bay

Double Island Point and Wide Bay Bar to River Heads · 5 guides

Region overview →

Hervey Bay & Bundaberg

Urangan to Burnett Heads and the Burnett River · 4 guides

Region overview →

Bars on this stretch

Maroochy, Noosa and Burrum are local-knowledge bars, and MSQ says so. The Wide Bay Bar is the main way into the Great Sandy Strait from the south: it moves, MSQ resurveys it often, and MRQ Tin Can Bay is the place to ask about conditions. Burnett Heads is a proper port entrance. Whatever you're crossing, check the current MSQ notices and get the tide right first.

Other sections

The coast is split into seven sections, north to south:

  1. Whitsundays to Cooktown (planned)
  2. Bundaberg to the Whitsundays (planned)
  3. Mooloolaba to Bundaberg (this section)
  4. Tweed to Mooloolaba
  5. Tweed to Newcastle (planned)
  6. Newcastle to Wollongong (planned)
  7. Wollongong to Gabo Island (planned)
See all sections on the map →

How to use these guides

Every guide is a planning aid: what to expect, who to call, and where to look for the official word. None of it replaces the current chart, MSQ notices to mariners, the tide tables or a chat with the locals. Where a fact is getting old, the page says so.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a correction.

Sources and credits

Maritime Safety Queensland. Contains Maritime Safety Queensland data (Beacon to Beacon guide, notices to mariners, nav-aid open data, pump-out map C2-335, speed-limit schedule, 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 Gold Coast Waterways Authority), 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.

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