⚠ 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.

South Passage Bar & Amity

Official MSQ Beacon to Beacon mapsMB-12 map (PDF)MB-13 map (PDF)MB-14 map (PDF)Free official PDFs from Maritime Safety Queensland. Each button opens the right sheet.
Coastal bar · dangerous · local knowledge onlyLast checked: 18 October 2026Report a correction

South Passage is the gap between the bottom of Moreton Island and the top of North Stradbroke Island, with Amity Point on the Straddie side and Kooringal on Moreton. On a chart it looks like a handy short cut into Moreton Bay. It isn't one for visitors. MSQ's maps call the bar dangerous and say it shouldn't be crossed without local knowledge, and NGA says it changes so often that reliable directions can't be given. For a delivery or a first visit, come into the bay by the main northern channels instead, or use the Gold Coast Seaway and come up inside.

Map of South Passage between North Stradbroke and Moreton islands with numbered markers for the bar area, the Amity Point ramp, Kooringal, a relocated Rous Channel buoy, a partially submerged ship near Big Blue Hole and Point Lookout.
South Passage and Amity. The bar marker is NGA's quoted position for Amity Point, not a crossing point. Red: bar; green: ramp; purple: notices; grey: places. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Big Blue Hole partially submerged ship · Fl Y 2.5s, April 2026 (MSQ 188(T)/2026).
  2. 2Kooringal (OSM) · Moreton Island settlement; Kooringal mooring area.
  3. 3Rous Channel 3 (moved) · Fl G 4s, moved Aug 2026 (MSQ 434/2026).
  4. 4South Passage / Amity Point (NGA position) · Dangerous bar. Local knowledge only.
  5. 5Amity Point, Claytons Rd ramp · 2 lanes, pontoon, toilets (TMR).
  6. 6Point Lookout (OSM) · Flat Rock and Boat Rock offshore.

At a glance
What it is Unstabilised ocean entrance between Amity Point (North Stradbroke Island) and Reeders Point (Moreton Island); an MSQ designated coastal bar
MSQ warning "South Passage Bar is dangerous and should not be crossed except with local knowledge" (MSQ maps MB-13 and MB-14, 2021)
Hazards Shifting sand banks; freak waves, especially on a falling tide; shoals under half a metre inside
Streams 3 to 4.5 knots in the entrance, easing to 2 to 3 knots west of Amity Point (NGA)
Leads or a crossing window None in our sources
Map age MSQ Beacon to Beacon maps MB-12 to MB-14 current to 26 August 2021
Last checked 18 October 2026

The bar

⚠ Call marine rescue before you cross. Bar conditions change quickly and our notes can't keep up. Before crossing, contact MRQ North Stradbroke (Marine Rescue North Stradbroke, based at Dunwich) for current bar conditions, and log on before you cross and off once you're through.Contacts checked on the unit's official website on 18 October 2026.

What the sources say:

  • MSQ lists South Passage as a designated coastal bar. Its maps warn that the bar is dangerous, the sand banks are constantly shifting, and freak waves may be met, especially on a falling tide.
  • NGA Pub. 127 says the entrance is dangerous because the bar and the banks either side are open to the sea. It changes position and depth so often that reliable directions can't be given, and only light-draft boats with local knowledge use it. ⚠ Dated big-ship text, but it agrees with MSQ.
  • NGA also notes that the ebb sets strongly north-east through the passage. Put that together with an easterly swell and you get exactly the conditions to stay inside.
  • We found no leads, published depths or recommended track in our sources.

If you're going to cross, get current local advice first (MRQ North Stradbroke is the local unit). Log on before you go and off after, and have lifejackets on. If it doesn't look right, don't go.

Inside the passage

Inside, South Passage runs into the Rous Channel, and the Rainbow Channel leads south past Amity towards Peel Island (see our Peel Island page).

  • MSQ's maps note shoals of less than half a metre at low water inside, and say the suggested track isn't well defined because the banks shift. There are also piles exposed at low water.
  • Rous Channel buoys have been moved, renumbered or withdrawn repeatedly since 2024. ⚠ August 2026: Rous Channel 3 (Fl G 4s) was moved again. Use the latest notices.
  • ⚠ April 2026: a yellow buoy (Fl Y 2.5s) marks a partially submerged ship near Big Blue Hole off Moreton Island.
  • Mooring areas (marine park): Amity (MGA15) and Kooringal (MGA14). Our sources don't give depths, holding or shelter for anchoring.

Outside, in good weather. NGA gives an offshore anchorage between Amity Point and Point Lookout, in good weather or offshore winds, in 11 to 15 m, 0.5 to 1 mile WNW of Shag Rock. ⚠ Dated. NGA also says the passage between Boat Rock and Flat Rock, off Point Lookout, shouldn't be used without local knowledge.

Skipper's notes

Garry's own observations from deliveries through South Passage Bar & Amity. 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

No marina, fuel or boatyard in our sources at Amity or Kooringal. NGA mentions a jetty 0.3 mile south of Amity Point, and TMR lists a jetty there too.

Rescue. MRQ North Stradbroke (formerly VMR North Stradbroke Island) is based at Dunwich and its area runs east across the South Passage Bar. See the call-out under The bar for its channels and phone. MSQ's 2021 maps also print Coast Guard Brisbane and VMR Raby Bay for this area. ⚠ As printed in 2021. Confirm their current details.

Boat ramps

From the Queensland Government (TMR) list, managed by Redland City Council:

  • Amity Point, Claytons Road: two lanes, pontoon, toilets, not tide-limited.

Rules in brief

  • Marine park. South Passage–Boat Rock is a conservation park zone (CPZ07). Green zones nearby include Amity Banks east (MNP18), Flat Rock (MNP19), Crab Island (MNP15) and Middle Moreton Bay (MNP14). Amity Banks and Moreton Banks are go-slow areas.
  • Flat Rock (off Point Lookout) is a no-anchoring area and a grey nurse shark area, with QPWS public moorings.
  • Lifejackets are compulsory when crossing a designated coastal bar in an open boat (see MSQ's advice below).
  • MSQ's maps warn that signs and lights marking marine zones may be moved or removed.

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 Amity Point, Claytons Rd ramp (boat ramp / dinghy landing)

NameTypeWalkStreet address (OSM)
Restaurants and cafes
Sealevel 21Restaurant560 m21 Ballow Street, 4183

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 and is no substitute for local knowledge on this bar. Use the official AHO charts (Aus 236 and Aus 814), 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 South Passage, Amity and Point Lookout (edition of 16 October 2026, Ashore data added 18 October 2026) and chapters 1 and 4 of the Tweed to Mooloolaba guidebook. Those draw on NGA Pub. 127 (sections 5.29 and 5.30), MSQ Beacon to Beacon maps MB-12, MB-13 and MB-14 (current to 26 August 2021), MSQ notices to mariners to 16 October 2026, the Moreton Bay Marine Park layers and TMR boating-facility data. Kooringal and Point Lookout positions are from OpenStreetMap.

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? This bar moves constantly. Tell us what you saw. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 18 October 2026.

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