Marlin Marina Cairns in a nutshell...

Marlin Marina Cairns offers secure moorings with reasonable facilities and is in walking distance from the town centre. But it is super expensive.

In our opinion:

 2.5/5

PROS

Close to town and restaurants
Relatively close to Portsmith where you can find a professional marine repair industry
Unaffected by tides except for mooring

CONS

You could be moored close to the Salt House with w’end and Monday night doof-doof party music till late
Extremely expensive!

Location

Marlin Marina Cairns is located about 150 NMs north of Townsville and about 35 NMs south of Port Douglas and is your best stop for maintenance and repair in Far North Queensland when travelling north. Marlin Marina is well protected from the weather but can be tricky to moor with SE winds and tidal movements..

First Impression

Be mindful that commercial traffic if high around 8.00 am as well as around 4.00 pm with numerous reef tourist vessels coming and going in there usual “I’m a commercial vessel; get out of my way” manner…

However, the channel is wide and commercial boats veer off to the left when coming into the marina where as touring yachts veer off to the right separating the big boats from us mortals.

Marlin Marina Cairns is very expensive so if you are on a budget, try Blue Water Marina or Yorkeys Knob Marina.

Facilities

Marlin Marina Cairns has dedicated absolution facilities consisting of one large male and female block located behind the Cairns Yacht Club offices. Each block contains a row of toilets and a row of showers which are less than new looking and a bit grubby. There is a laundry in the middle with 4 washing and drying machines.There is also a coin machine that offers change (when you are lucky).

The marina management will provide you with a “card” that will give access to your berth as well as the facilities.

We found the toilets and showers less than clean but the water flow is good and hot.