⚠ 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.

Pumicestone Passage to Mooloolaba cruising guide

Official MSQ Beacon to Beacon mapsMB-1 map (PDF)PP-1 map (PDF)PP-3 map (PDF)PP-4 map (PDF)PP-6 map (PDF)PP-7 map (PDF)SC-5 map (PDF)SC-6 map (PDF)Free official PDFs from Maritime Safety Queensland. Each button opens the right sheet.
Bribie Island to Mooloolaba · 3 guidesLast checked: 18 October 2026Report a correction

North of Moreton Bay, the Pumicestone Passage runs up behind Bribie Island to Caloundra. It's long, narrow and shallow, lovely in a shoal-draft boat, but the Bribie Island Bridge limits masts at the southern end and the Caloundra bar at the northern end is no through route for most boats. Further north, Mooloolaba is the Sunshine Coast's harbour, with marinas, fuel and a boatyard behind a bar that shoals regularly. In October 2026 MSQ's survey found well under 2 m in parts of the entrance channel, so check the current notice first.

Map of the Pumicestone Passage to Mooloolaba region (Bribie Island to Mooloolaba) 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. 1Bribie Island & Pumicestone Passage · Marinas + passage
  2. 2Caloundra Bar · Bar crossing + northern passage
  3. 3Mooloolaba Harbour · Bar + harbour + marinas

Guides in this region, south to north

Bribie Island & Pumicestone Passage

Marinas + passage

Bribie Island and southern Pumicestone Passage: Bribie Bridge clearance, Spinnaker Sound and Pacific Harbour marinas, pump-outs, VMR Bribie.

Last checked: 18 October 2026

Caloundra Bar

Bar crossing + northern passage

The Caloundra and Bribie Island bars are designated, shallow and shifting. What the maps warn, Pelican Waters, canals and CG Caloundra.

Last checked: 18 October 2026 ⚠ 1 item flagged unverified

Mooloolaba Harbour

Bar + harbour + marinas

Mooloolaba Harbour entrance shoaling, Yangala anchorage, The Wharf and Mooloolaba marinas, Lawrie's boatyard, fuel and Kawana Waters.

Last checked: 18 October 2026 ⚠ 1 item flagged unverified

Entrances from the sea

  • Caloundra Bar: Designated coastal bar. MSQ says it's extremely shallow and most vessels can't cross.
  • Mooloolaba Harbour: Designated coastal bar between breakwaters. It shoals regularly, so check the current MSQ notice before crossing.

Before any bar crossing, read MSQ's bar advice and the current notices to mariners. Depths on bars change between surveys.

Neighbouring regions

About these guides

These are planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources: MSQ maps and notices, NGA Pub. 127 and OpenStreetMap. They are not for navigation. Use the official AHO charts, current MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice. Each page shows when its facts were last checked and flags anything dated or unconfirmed.

Sources & 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.

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

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