FIRST, a fact.
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Marinas are the least environmentally damaging of all mooring options.
Anchor chains and, to a lesser extent, swing mooring chains drag the bottom at each change of tide and wind.
Marinas, with craft tied to floating pontoons, do not.
Also, with few exceptions, marinas are sanctuaries that teem with fish and sea plants that support them.
Having lived aboard a 54-foot steel ketch for more than 10 years and cruised up and down the coast from Hobart to Bowen, I have seen the best and worst marinas and boatyards.
The best are so designed that no run-off ever reaches the waterway before it has been filtered and treated to a high degree of purity.
Bundaberg City Marina is among the best, for both amenity and attention to the environment, but there are others with equally high standards.
A marina precinct offers jobs in marine services and hospitality.
At the moment, few yachts cruise the South Coast compared with the north coast, perhaps from lack of promotion, but certainly from lack of amenities.
Yachts cruising north suffer the disadvantage of most harbours being entered by a barred river, while Newcastle to Eden offers more easily entered anchorages.
But it does lack infrastructure and yachties who spend money want amenities.
The Bay is such a great destination but the bar is a bummer.
I could get in and out, only on an above average tide and that made it difficult to just go for a day sail.
Stafford Ray
Denhams Beach