⚠ 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.

Sandgate & Cabbage Tree Creek

Official MSQ Beacon to Beacon mapMB-9 map (PDF)Free official PDFs from Maritime Safety Queensland. Each button opens the right sheet.
Creek marina · yacht club · VMR base · rampsLast checked: 18 October 2026Report a correction

Cabbage Tree Creek, between Shorncliffe and Sandgate on the shore of Bramble Bay, is the northside's small-boat harbour. It's a narrow, busy creek with a mooring area, a marina, the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club and the VMR Brisbane (Sandgate) rescue base. There are public ramps at the mouth and down the shore at Nudgee Beach. The 2026 Brisbane to Gladstone race started just offshore in Bramble Bay. A delivery skipper's main worries here are the shallow approach across Bramble Bay and the run of sunken boats in and around the creek.

Map of Cabbage Tree Creek at Shorncliffe with numbered markers for Cabbage Tree Creek Marina, the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club, VMR Brisbane (Sandgate), public ramps at Shorncliffe and Nudgee Beach, and recent wreck and obstruction buoys.
Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe and Nudgee Beach. Navy: marina and club; red: rescue; green: ramps; purple: notices 2025–26. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Underwater obstruction buoy · Laid March 2026 (MSQ 151(T)/2026).
  2. 2Cabbage Tree Creek Marina · Named only (OSM).
  3. 3Partially submerged ship buoy · Fl Y 2.5s, June 2026 (MSQ 321(T)/2026).
  4. 4Shorncliffe, Sinbad St ramp · 4 lanes, floating walkway (TMR).
  5. 5Queensland Cruising Yacht Club · Yacht club (OSM).
  6. 6VMR Brisbane (Sandgate) · Marine rescue base.
  7. 7Shorncliffe, Jetty St ramp · 2 lanes, pontoon, toilets (TMR).
  8. 8Kedron Brook Floodway sunken vessel · Fl Y 2.5s, Nov 2025 (MSQ 526(T)/2025).
  9. 9Nudgee Beach ramp · 4 lanes, pontoon, toilets (TMR).

At a glance
What it is Small-boat harbour on Cabbage Tree Creek, with moorings, a marina, a yacht club and a rescue base
Marks 15 MSQ aids in the creek (MSQ open data)
Speed 6 knots in Cabbage Tree Creek
Ramps Shorncliffe (Sinbad St and Jetty St) and Nudgee Beach, all not tide-limited
Fuel None confirmed in our sources
Map age MSQ Beacon to Beacon map MB-9 and enlargement C current to 26 August 2021
Last checked 18 October 2026

Getting here

Bramble Bay is shallow. MSQ's 2017 soundings give a median of about 1.6 m across map MB-9, which includes the drying flats off Nudgee and Boondall. Follow the marked channel in from the bay. MSQ's open data has 15 aids in the creek, and MSQ prints a Cabbage Tree Creek enlargement on its Moreton Bay maps. Go on a rising tide if you draw much.

Recent notices in and around the creek:

  • ⚠ June 2026: a yellow buoy (Fl Y 2.5s) marks a partially submerged ship in the creek.
  • ⚠ March 2026: a buoy marks an underwater obstruction near the mouth.
  • ⚠ January and July 2025: two more partially submerged vessels were buoyed in the creek and in Bramble Bay.
  • ⚠ September 2026: bed-levelling work was proposed in Cabbage Tree Creek.
  • ⚠ November 2025: a sunken vessel was buoyed off the Kedron Brook Floodway, to the south. One of the floodway beacons was moved in February 2026.
  • ⚠ June 2025: the Sandgate Fisheries special mark beacon in Bramble Bay was removed.

Temporary notices may have been cleared since. Check the current list.

Anchoring and moorings

There's a marine park mooring area in Cabbage Tree Creek (MGA13). Our sources don't give an anchorage with depths, holding or shelter. Bramble Bay off Sandgate is partly a green zone (MNP13), with the Hays Inlet–Bramble Bay conservation park zone (CPZ06) to the north.

Skipper's notes

Garry's own observations from deliveries through Sandgate & Cabbage Tree Creek. First-hand notes, dated, and no substitute for the chart.

Depth
[Garry to add: depths seen, state of tide and date.]
Holding
[Garry to add: bottom type and how the anchor held.]
Shelter
[Garry to add: wind directions it is good or bad in.]
Other notes
[Garry to add: anything else worth knowing, with date.]

Notes last updated: [date]

Facilities

  • Cabbage Tree Creek Marina is in the creek (OpenStreetMap). We haven't confirmed visitor berths or depths.
  • Queensland Cruising Yacht Club is near the mouth, with another marina mapped beside it.
  • VMR Brisbane (Sandgate) is based in the creek. MSQ's 2021 map prints weekend and public-holiday hours. ⚠ As printed in 2021. Confirm current hours and channels.
  • Trades (directory listings, 16 October 2026): Deagon Slipways and Iconic Boats (boatbuilders and repairers), True Blue Marine and Ashdown-Ingram (chandlery), Northside Marine (Boondall) and Tackle land (bait and tackle).

Fuel, water and pump-out

None confirmed in our sources for Cabbage Tree Creek. OpenStreetMap marks a pump-out station run by Brisbane Airport Corporation down near the airport shore. We haven't confirmed it's open to the public. The nearest confirmed fuel is across the bay at Manly (RQYS) or north at Scarborough (see those pages).

Boat ramps

From the Queensland Government (TMR) list:

  • Shorncliffe, Sinbad Street: four lanes and a floating walkway, not tide-limited (managed by TMR Boat Harbours).
  • Shorncliffe, Jetty Street: two lanes, pontoon, toilets, not tide-limited (Brisbane City Council). Baxters Jetty (Sunday Street) is next door.
  • Nudgee Beach, Nudgee Road: four lanes, pontoon, floating walkway, toilets, not tide-limited.
  • Shorncliffe, Yundah Street: a tide-limited canoe ramp.

Rules in brief

  • Speed. 6 knots in Cabbage Tree Creek.
  • Marine park. Bramble Bay green zone (MNP13), Hays Inlet–Bramble Bay conservation park zone (CPZ06) and Cabbage Tree Creek habitat protection zone (HPZ09). Check the zoning maps before fishing.
  • Events. The Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race starts in Bramble Bay (3 April in 2026). MSQ issues an advice each year.

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.

From Shorncliffe, Jetty St ramp (boat ramp / dinghy landing)

NameTypeWalkStreet address (OSM)
Restaurants and cafes
Shelley InnTakeaway70 m–
Elvy's CafeCafe550 m–
Olga's at ShorncliffeCafe1.2 km40 Kate Street

From Shorncliffe, Sinbad St ramp / Queensland Cruising Yacht Club (boat ramp / dinghy landing, marina)

NameTypeWalkStreet address (OSM)
Bars, pubs and clubs
Queensland Cruising Yacht ClubYacht/boat club40 m–

Nothing mapped within the 15-minute walk of: Cabbage Tree Creek Marina; Nudgee Beach ramp.

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

This page is a planning aid written by a working delivery skipper from public sources. It is not for navigation. Use the official AHO chart (Aus 236), 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 fresh words from the facts in the Hartshorne Marine Sailing Directions area guide for St Helena Island, the Brisbane River mouth and Sandgate (edition of 16 October 2026, Ashore data added 18 October 2026) and chapter 4 of the Tweed to Mooloolaba guidebook. Those draw on MSQ Beacon to Beacon map MB-9 and enlargement C (current to 26 August 2021), MSQ open data, MSQ notices to mariners to 16 October 2026, the MSQ speed-limit schedule, the Moreton Bay Marine Park layers, TMR boating-facility data and directory listings (16 October 2026).

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.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Wreck buoys come and go in this creek. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 18 October 2026.

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