01
Sorrento's
Casual-smart Italian on the boardwalk — wood-fired pizza, fresh seafood pasta, and a long aperitivo menu. The seven-day lunch is one of the best in town.
Airlie Beach · Dining · Sailing departures · Sundowners
Coral SeaMarina
The working harbour at the edge of town — sailing charters leave from here, super-yachts park up, and at sunset it's the best free show in the Whitsundays.
520+ berthsCharter hubWaterfront diningSunset views
- Location
- Shingley Drive, Airlie Beach
- From town
- 1.8 km / 20 min walk
- Hours
- Always open
- Cost
- Free to wander
- Best time
- Late afternoon onward
- Dining
- 10+ venues
Where the Whitsundays head out from.
If Airlie Beach is the front door to the Whitsundays, Coral Sea Marina is where the keys hang. Almost every sailing charter, snorkelling boat, sunset cruise and Whitehaven day trip departs from one of its 520-odd berths — which means the marina runs on its own particular rhythm of early-morning departures and golden-hour returns.
Originally Abell Point Marina, the precinct was rebranded as Coral Sea Marina after major redevelopment in 2018. It's now one of the largest marinas in the southern hemisphere, with deep-water berthing capable of taking super-yachts up to 80 metres — which means you'll routinely see boats here that wouldn't look out of place in Monaco.
But it's not a gated, members-only place. The boardwalk is open to anyone, the restaurants and bars sit right on the water, and the precinct is genuinely one of the nicest places in town for a meal or a sundowner. The drive between the lagoon and the marina takes five minutes; the walk along the boardwalk is closer to twenty.
If you've booked a Whitsundays day trip or sailing tour, this is almost certainly where you'll be told to meet. Arrive thirty minutes early — there's good coffee, the views are excellent, and finding your boat among the dozens at the marina can take a few extra minutes the first time.
Departure tip: most charter companies use Marina Office check-in points at the head of each pontoon. Confirm pontoon number with your operator the night before, especially during peak season.
What's at the marina
Eat, drink, set sail.
02
Hemingway's Brewery
Microbrewery and casual restaurant right on the water. Sample paddles of their craft beers and order the fish & chips. Sunset is a religion here.
03
Whitsunday Provisioning & deli
If you're chartering a bareboat, this is where you load up. Even if you're not, the deli does excellent takeaway picnic boxes.
04
Sailing & cruise departures
Cruise Whitsundays, Ocean Rafting, Camira, Lady Enid, Whitsundays Crocodile Safari — they all leave from here. Allow time to find your pontoon.
05
Coral Sea Marina Resort
Four-star hotel right on the marina, plus the rooftop bar — pricey but a serious sundowner spot.
06
Sundowner walk
Stroll the full marina boardwalk at golden hour. The light on the boats and across to the islands is hard to beat.
What to know before you go.
A few quick logistics for marina visits.
Getting there
20 min walk along the foreshore from town, 5 min drive, or jump on the free shuttle bus that loops the precinct.
Parking
Free at the eastern end of the marina; multi-storey paid parking at the western end if it's full.
If you're sailing
Arrive 30 min before departure. Day-pack only on most charters; secure parking inside the marina for multi-day trips.
Dining bookings
Sorrento's and Hemingway's both book up Fri–Sun in peak season. Reserve a day or two ahead.
Pair it with
A perfect Airlie afternoon.
1.8 km west
Airlie Beach Lagoon
Cool off pre-marina dinner; the boardwalk links the two end-to-end.
AdjacentBicentennial Boardwalk
Walk from the marina all the way to Cannonvale Beach (5 km one way).
15 min driveConway National Park
Pre-marina morning hike up Mt Rooper — the lookout faces back over the marina and islands.
What departs from here
Coral Sea Marina is the practical reason most visitors end up here: it is where the great majority of Whitsundays day trips and charters leave from.
That includes Whitehaven Beach day trips, outer reef pontoon trips, sailing day tours, bareboat charters and the island transfers. If you have booked a boat in the Whitsundays, there is a good chance this is where you report.
Departures cluster in the morning, typically between about seven and nine, which is why the marina is busiest and the parking hardest at that time.
Departure-day practicalities
A few things make a departure morning smoother, and they are the ones people get wrong.
Arrive earlier than the ticket says. Check-in is usually thirty minutes before departure, and the marina is large enough that finding the right berth takes longer than you expect first time.
Know your berth or boat name, not just the operator. Several operators run multiple vessels from different points along the marina.
Parking fills early on peak-season mornings. There is parking at and around the marina, but on a busy day in July you will be walking.
Take everything you need with you. Most day boats do not return to the marina mid-trip, and shops here are limited to what you would expect at a marina rather than a supermarket.
The Environmental Management Charge
If your trip enters the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park — which most reef and island trips do — you will pay an Environmental Management Charge. It is a per-person, per-day fee collected by the operator and passed to the Marine Park Authority, and it funds management and research across the park.
It should appear as an itemised line on your booking rather than a surprise at the dock. If a quote looks cheaper than others, check whether the EMC is included or added later.
The marina itself
Beyond the departures, the marina is a public precinct and worth a visit on its own.
It berths everything from small charter yachts to genuine superyachts, and walking the arms to look at the boats is a legitimate activity here — plenty of locals do it.
There is waterfront dining and bars along the marina front, which is where a lot of people end a day trip. It catches the afternoon light well.
The Bicentennial Boardwalk starts here and runs four kilometres along the foreshore to the Airlie Beach Lagoon, which makes the marina one end of the best walk in town.
Bareboating from here
The Whitsundays is one of the world's major bareboat charter destinations, and Coral Sea Marina is a principal base for it.
The thing that surprises people: you do not need a skipper's licence. Charter companies provide a briefing of a few hours covering the boat, the navigation and the local conditions, and you check in by radio each evening so someone always knows where you are.
Minimum charters are typically three nights. It is not cheap, but split across a group it compares reasonably with several separate day trips plus accommodation — and it puts you in the anchorages after the day boats have gone home.
Reading a departure board
The marina handles a lot of vessels and the arms are long. A few habits make a first departure much easier.
Find the berth number the night before. Your booking confirmation should carry it. "Coral Sea Marina" is not an address at seven in the morning with a bag in each hand.
Allow fifteen minutes to walk. From the car park to a far berth is further than it looks on a map, and the marina is exposed — in February that walk is warm.
Check the boat name, not just the operator. Several companies run multiple vessels on different itineraries from different berths on the same morning.
What to do while you wait
Early departures mean a lot of people standing around at first light, and the marina is a reasonable place to do it.
Cafes open early here precisely because of the departure schedule — earlier than most of the main street. Coffee before a seven o'clock check-in is available.
The Bicentennial Boardwalk starts here, so an early arrival can be turned into a short walk along the foreshore with the light coming up over the Passage.
Coming back in
Most day boats return between about three and five in the afternoon, and the marina is at its best then — everyone off the water, the light going gold, and the waterfront bars filling.
This is when the marina restaurants earn their place. A table looking over the boats after a day on the water is the natural end of a Whitsundays day, and it is worth booking in peak season because several hundred people have the same idea simultaneously.
If you are driving, remember the walk back to the car park is the same distance in the other direction, in the heat of the afternoon.
Superyachts and the boat-watching
Coral Sea Marina berths some genuinely large vessels, and walking the arms to look at them is an accepted local pastime rather than an intrusion.
The mix is part of what makes it interesting — working charter catamarans alongside private yachts alongside the day-trip fleet, all in the same water.
The marina is a public precinct. You can walk it freely, and there is no reason to feel you need a booking to be there.