The Gold Coast has eleven commercial marinas and about 170 superyacht berths, more than anywhere else in Australia, so the question is rarely whether there is a berth. It is which one. The honest split is Broadwater marinas at Main Beach and Runaway Bay, five minutes from the Seaway and priced accordingly, versus Coomera River marinas an hour and a half upstream at six knots, next to the shipyards and out of the weather.
Key facts
- Closest to open water — Marina Mirage and Southport Yacht Club (about 5 minutes to the Seaway); Runaway Bay (2 nautical miles)
- Closest to the trades — The Boat Works and Gold Coast City Marina, in the Coomera precinct with 300-tonne lifts on site
- Only published rate card — Southport Yacht Club, effective 1 May 2026; everyone else quotes on enquiry
- Speed limit — 6 knots from Paradise Point all the way up the Coomera River
- Channel depth — about 3.0 m at Sanctuary Cove and GCCM; 3.5 m at The Boat Works at low tide
- New in 2026 — Mantaray Marina at The Spit (opened August); Main Beach Superyacht Marina under construction
The comparison at a glance
| Marina | Where | Berths | Max vessel | Fuel on site | Haul-out on site | To the Seaway | Rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanctuary Cove | Hope Island, Coomera River | 300–480 | 65 m | 24/7, 120 L/min diesel | No | not published; Hope Island next door says 40 min | Enquiry |
| Southport Yacht Club | Main Beach | 300 | 130 m | 24-hour wharf | 35–40 t lift, to 55 ft | about 5 min | Published, May 2026 |
| The Boat Works | Coomera | 125–150 in water | 50 m berths, 75 m alongside | Yes, plus bunkering | 300 t, 100 t, 70 t lifts | 11 nm | Enquiry |
| Gold Coast City Marina (GCCM) | Coomera | 200 | 75 m | 24/7 tap-and-go | 300 t and 50 t lifts | about 1.5 h at 6 kn | Schedule from Nov 2022 |
| Hope Harbour | Hope Island | 280 | 40 m | Yes | No | 15 min | Enquiry |
| Marina Mirage | Main Beach | 76–78 | 70 m+ | No, next door at SYC | No | about 5 min | Enquiry |
| Runaway Bay | Runaway Bay | 195 wet, 260 dry | 30 m | Yes | 35 t lift, to 16 m | 2 nm | Enquiry |
| Pacific Point (was Horizon Shores) | Steiglitz | 550+ | 40 m | 24/7 | 70 t lift | Southern Moreton Bay, not the Broadwater | Enquiry |
| Hope Island Marina | Hope Island | about 240 | 30 m | Yes | No | about 40 min | Rentals from $1,050/month |
| Mantaray | The Spit | 67 | 60 m | Yes | No | at the Seaway | Leases from $2,000/month |
Berth counts move with each expansion and sources disagree by a few dozen; the figures are the marinas’ own where they publish them.
Sanctuary Cove Marina
The resort marina, and the address most people picture. Sanctuary Cove is a Platinum Gold Anchor, Superyacht Ready marina and was Marina of the Year in 2023. It takes vessels to 65 m with a 3.0 m draught and 15 m beam, and its J Pier expansion added ten 30 m and fifteen 18 m berths, bringing it to 63 superyacht-capable berths. The fuel jetty runs 24/7 on card swipe with fast-flow diesel at 120 litres a minute and bulk pricing on fills over 1,000 litres. Fob access to berths and amenities is 24 hours, with CCTV and patrols, three-phase power, laundry, private showers, Wi-Fi and a helipad.
What it does not have is a yard. Sanctuary Cove markets its proximity to the Coomera precinct for refit work, which in practice means a short run upriver to The Boat Works or GCCM for every haul-out. It also does not publish rates or a live-aboard policy; berthing is by enquiry for casual, permanent and superyacht categories.
Southport Yacht Club Marina, Main Beach
The only Gold Coast marina with a public rate card, and the one to benchmark everything else against. Three hundred berths, vessels to 130 m, power to 600 amps, an official Customs clearance port and Australia’s largest floating superyacht berth at 160 m. Five minutes from the Seaway, with a 24-hour self-serve fuel wharf and a hardstand with a 35 to 40 tonne travel lift for boats up to 55 ft. On site: the Waterfront Restaurant, the Bosun’s Locker chandlery, a members’ gym, laundry and pump-out.
The 1 May 2026 rates, including GST, per month:
| Berth | Gold Member | Visitor |
|---|---|---|
| 49 ft / 15 m double | $1,186 | $1,930 |
| 59 ft / 18 m single | $2,064 | $3,145 |
| 66 ft / 20 m single or T-head | $2,598 | $3,380 |
| 73 ft / 22 m single | $3,174 | $4,013 |
| 82 ft / 25 m single | $4,122 | $5,500 |
Wide and catamaran berths cost more (a 59 ft cat is $2,682 member, $4,430 visitor), three-phase power is 35 cents a kilowatt hour, and a 12-month contract on the 59 ft single is $19,311 for members. There is a waiting list for permanent berths, reported at around 300 vessels, and the club is adding 19 berths.
The Boat Works, Coomera
A working marina inside a 55-acre shipyard, and the biggest lifting capacity in the city: a 300-tonne Marine Travelift, a 100-tonne and a 70-tonne lift, plus a 45-tonne hydraulic lift for wide catamarans. The South Marina has 125 work berths, with around 150 in-water service berths and 300 hardstand allocations across the site, and 15 superyacht berths to 50 m with a 75 m alongside berth. Water is 3.5 m at low tide, maintained by dredging. It is about 11 nautical miles from the Seaway.
The Boat Works is where you go to get things done: 80 to 90 marine trade tenants, owner-operated work allowed at no extra charge, a bunkering dock, pump-out, 24/7 CCTV with on-site caretakers, live-aboard ensuites, a hardstand area for up to 16 live-aboard boats, courtesy cars, an owners’ lounge and three places to eat. It earned 5 Gold Anchors and Superyacht Ready status in 2023, and during Cyclone Alfred in March 2025 it secured about 400 vessels with no damage. Rates are not published.
Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard (GCCM), Coomera
Marine HQ’s home base, and the other half of the Coomera precinct. GCCM, operated by d’Albora, has 200 berths for vessels of 10 to 75 m, on-water service berths to 75 m, 24-hour security with site-wide CCTV, three-phase power to 125 amps and a 24/7 tap-and-go fuel wharf with bunkering on request. The shipyard runs 50-tonne and 300-tonne lifts, 50,000 m² of hardstand, sheds from 8 to 45 m, 300 dry-stack spaces and more than 90 businesses. It was the first shipyard in the Asia-Pacific to receive 5 Gold Anchors and took Marina of the Year, Boatyard of the Year and Dry Stack Facility of the Year at the 2025 industry awards.
GCCM’s last published berth schedule is from November 2022, marked as subject to change and excluding utilities: 51–60 ft $1,650 a month, 61–70 ft $1,925, 71–80 ft $2,400, 81–90 ft $3,200. Multihulls pay 1.5 times on a T-head and double in a berth. Freehold berths also change hands here; a 16 m berth on Pier H listed with annual outgoings of $4,245.
Hope Harbour Marina, Hope Island
The first marina upstream after Paradise Point and, at its own estimate, 15 minutes from the Seaway. Its 280 berths take vessels from 6 to 40 m including multihulls, on composite pontoons in a basin branched off the river, which keeps it out of the tidal flow and is why it is marketed as cyclone and flood shelter. Fuel jetty with premium unleaded and diesel, 24/7 CCTV with on-site guards, chandlery, café, laundry, tender service, boat ramp and three-phase power on the larger berths, with the Ramada hotel, Marlin bar, pool and tennis courts alongside. No yard. Rates are by application.
Marina Mirage, Main Beach
Seventy-six to seventy-eight deep-water berths from 12 m to 70 m and beyond, 3.5 to 4 m at the berth, five minutes from the Seaway and next door to Southport Yacht Club’s fuel wharf, since Mirage has none of its own. Power from 15 to 250 amps, a helipad, 24-hour security with key-fob gates, undercover parking and the La Luna floating beach club. The rebuilt marina reopened in 2021 and took Marina of the Year (under 140 boats) in 2023.
The big news is the $500 million Makris redevelopment: the retail precinct closed in November 2025, a 126-room Luxury Collection resort and 38 residences are on the way for 2029, and the marina is to keep operating through construction. Rates not published.
Runaway Bay Marina
Two nautical miles from the Seaway with 195 wet berths for 8 to 30 m vessels and 260 dry-stack spaces to 10 m, a fuel dock, a 35-tonne travel lift for boats to 16 m, and a good cluster of trades on site including Short Marine and Gold Coast Antifouling. Security is 24/7 CCTV with on-site guards. Staying aboard for a night or two is allowed at no charge; full-time live-aboard is not offered. Quote form only for rates.
Pacific Point Marina (formerly Horizon Shores), Steiglitz
Now a d’Albora marina and renamed. More than 550 wet berths for vessels to 40 m, 330 dry-storage spaces, a 70-tonne travel lift, refit sheds, 24/7 fuel, a chandlery seven days a week and after-hours patrols. It sits on southern Moreton Bay near Jacobs Well rather than on the Broadwater, which suits owners heading north to Moreton Bay more than those running out the Seaway. Live-aboard is permitted subject to conditions. Steiglitz Reach to the entrance is a 6-knot zone.
The smaller and newer options
- Hope Island Marina, on the Coomera River next to Sanctuary Cove: berths 12 to 30 m for monohulls and cats, about 40 minutes from the Seaway. Rentals from $1,050 a month for 12 m; freehold berths listed at $179,000 for 12 m and $320,000 for 18 m, with outgoings of $6,600 to $7,900 a year.
- Coomera Waters Marina, Coomera River North Branch: 70 berths, 12 to 20 m, permanent and casual.
- Sovereign Island Marina, Paradise Point: 30 berths, 10 to 45 m, digital gates and 24/7 CCTV; $10 million public liability cover required.
- Mantaray Marina, The Spit: 67 berths from 10 to 60 m, twenty of them superyacht berths, bookings from April 2026 and officially open 1 August 2026. Monthly leases advertised from $2,000.
- Main Beach Superyacht Marina, the old Mariner’s Cove: 66 berths to 73 m with high-flow fuel, a captain’s lounge and a helipad, alongside a Ritz-Carlton due 2029. The marina was targeted for the third quarter of 2026.
Getting up the river
The Seaway is 250 m wide with a permanent sand bypass, dredged to a minimum of about 4.5 m outside and 4.8 m inside. It is described as the safest bar in south-east Queensland, but on an ebb tide against a south-easterly swell it is not a place to be casual. Cross on the flood or at high slack, keep clear of the shallow bank north-east of the heads and log on with Seaway Tower or VMR Southport on VHF 16 or 73. Entrance dredging was under way in August 2026 and the sand-bypass jetty is closed to the public until the end of the year.
From the Broadwater to Coomera the numbers are simple: six knots, roughly 1.5 hours to GCCM, and about 3.0 m of water in the channel at Paradise Point, Sanctuary Cove and GCCM. Larger yachts go up on a rising tide and aim to arrive about an hour and a half before high water; the tide at Paradise Point runs about an hour behind the Seaway. Take the southern arm around Coomera Island. The channel from Sovereign Islands to the precinct is now on a regular dredging cycle, and the Coomera Connector bridge works have a temporary channel and reduced limits near the construction zone.
Worth knowing
Guideline limits for the run from the Seaway to the Coomera precinct without a pilot are 60 m and a 2.1 m draught; to Southport Yacht Club, 65 m and 3 m. Vessels over 50 m need a pilot unless exempt. Under-keel clearance is 1.0 m in the Seaway entrance and 0.5 m elsewhere.
Cyclone season
Tropical Cyclone Alfred brought gusts over 100 km/h to the Gold Coast in March 2025 and stripped about six million cubic metres of sand from the beaches. The Coomera River marinas came through it as the region’s storm shelter: The Boat Works hauled 275 boats and secured 125 in the water without a scratch, and Hope Harbour’s off-river basin did what it was built for. Most policies require you to haul out or secure the vessel within a set time once a cyclone is named, and yard space goes quickly, so the marina you choose is part of your insurance plan whether you think of it that way or not.
How to choose
- You run out the Seaway most weekends: Main Beach, Runaway Bay or Mantaray. Pay for the position.
- She is in the yard a lot, or you want the trades on hand: The Boat Works or GCCM. Everything is a golf-cart ride away, including us.
- You want the resort and do not mind the river: Sanctuary Cove, with Hope Island and Hope Harbour as the quieter neighbours.
- You want certainty of a berth for the long haul: consider buying at Hope Island or GCCM, and weigh the outgoings against rent.
- Cyclones worry you: upriver, and a yard that can lift her.
What we do
Marine HQ is based at Gold Coast City Marina in Coomera and looks after motor yachts at marinas across the Coast. We move boats up and down the river for yard periods, handle the marina paperwork and power accounts, and keep every berth, service and yard visit visible to the owner in their MyYacht app. If you are choosing a home for a new boat or thinking about moving her, call 0439 748 387 and we will tell you what we would do with your yacht.