Hi all, I will be heading to gladstone from brisbane solo on a 21ft yacht and would like to know if there is a spot in the mooloola river to anchor for the night? I havent done the trip from brisbane to the wide bay bar before and im trying to nut it out. Im also an inexperienced yachty although have plenty of sea-time on commercial boats in the past.
Hi,
Yes, there is an anchorage area at Mooloolaba, upstream of the island, keep a good eye on the depthsounder, I touched in that area on my way up in June.
Cheers Gypsypirate
Welcome to the forum drn. The brains trust here is pretty good and uniquely Australian. If you have questions, ask away. A helpful crew with depth of experience.
There are yachts anchored in the Mooloola River up past the Wharf marina.
Well before attempting to enter via the Wide Bay Bar log in with VMR Tin Can Bay to get the current way points for entering. DO NOT CUT CORNERS. I would phone them the day before.
Try to time your entry for the top of a morning tide. If it is blowing 20 kts plus it could be scary and on a yacht that size it might pay to retract the keel if possible to reduce the risk of broaching.
Cheers 
Thanks for the responses, I will take the "dont cut corners" advice for sure. Ill pick the weather, the keel is a bolt on cast iron one and draws 1.3 m all up, i would like to do the crossing before midday i was looking at the satellite on googmaps and there seems to be a nice little shelter at double island point. It would be great to be able to stay there for the second night and cross the next morning. good advice about ringing Vmr tin can Cisco i will do that for sure
Hi,
Yes Double Island point is good shelter, I sat there for a day for better conditions, all the right advice is coming your way,
I agree that DIP is a good anchorage in SE conditions. Good reception on Internet too! I have often turned up at night on the run from Moreton Bay and it is ok to pass between Wolf Rock and DIP , assuming of course that you have good viz. or radar to back up GPS. VMR will only give you the crossing watpoints by text message. Plenty of depth is the key, high tide and on the slack just in case you wander . Main track seems to have plenty of depth , even at low.
When I stayed at double island point the wind turned onshore....my mate had a dickie motor and sailed back to moolahbar and I up anchor at 4am waiting for the tide at 7am. If you go into moolahbar and intend to anchor personally I would not contact anyone on your arrival it's my understanding they don't really like people anchoring. Also there is a mud bank near the anchorage when I stayed there a woman in a fero cement boat sailed into it in the night and in the morning it was high and dry and full of water and wrecked! You can also anchor in the marina basin but there is only swinging room for a couple of boats.
Just a note of caution, when anchoring in the Duck Pond on the Mooloolah River at Mooloolaba
ALWAYS use your anchor light at night as the QLD waterways will do the rounds and fine you!
