Tipperary Waters Marina in Stuart Park

LOCATION & WATERWAY

Tipperary Waters Marina location and waterway

Tipperary Waters Marina is listed by YouSail in Stuart Park, NT, in the Darwin region, on Darwin Harbour / Sadgroves Creek. This helps you place it on a shortlist, but it does not confirm a suitable berth or a safe approach for your vessel.

Use the Darwin marina guide for local waterway context, or compare all marinas in Northern Territory. Ask the operator for berth-specific dimensions and arrival advice.

YOUSAIL SOURCE PROFILE

Verified source notes for Tipperary Waters Marina

Cyclone-rated tidal marina at 86 Frances Bay Drive, Stuart Park, minutes from Darwin's CBD, accessed via a lock with a lockmaster on hand. Its 73 berths take boats up to 22 m and it is the only Darwin marina offering full liveaboard amenities, with a supermarket, bottleshop, fast food, restaurants, chandlery and bus stop around the estate.

Tipperary Waters Marina is the cyclone-rated lock marina at 86 Frances Bay Drive, Stuart Park, built as the aquatic centrepiece of a residential estate a few minutes from Darwin's CBD. Its 73 berths sit behind lock gates on the lower reach of Sadgroves Creek, holding the basin at a constant level while the tide outside runs through its eight-metre range. What sets Tipperary Waters apart from Darwin's other marinas is that it was designed around living aboard: it is the only marina in the city offering the full suite of liveaboard amenities, and its berth mix reflects that, with dedicated liveaboard berths alongside storage-only pens and a handful of transient berths for passing yachts. The estate around the water supplies the daily needs of that community, with a supermarket, bottleshop, takeaway and restaurants within a short walk of the pontoons, a chandlery in the precinct and a bus stop at the gate. The clientele is correspondingly mixed: long-term liveaboard residents, Darwin boat owners keeping vessels on storage berths, and cruising sailors who find its prices comparable to Queensland marinas and its position handier to town than Bayview. The lock and its lockmaster give the place its rhythm; every arrival and departure is a scheduled event shaped by the tide, and the marina office sits at the centre of the paperwork. For cyclone season the locked basin and its rated design make it one of the harbour's recognised refuges for smaller vessels. The estate takes its name from the Tipperary cattle station group once associated with the area's pastoral-era landholdings, a reminder that this flat, creek-cut edge of Darwin was mangrove and swamp long before it was canal and pontoon.

This is the factual YouSail directory layer used as the primary reference for the Find Marinas review above.

WHAT YOUSAIL RECORDS

Tipperary Waters Marina berth dimensions and facilities

YouSail classification?The category published on the source profile; confirm what services are operating today.

full-service marina

Water body

Darwin Harbour / Sadgroves Creek

YouSail region

Darwin

Berth types?A source-level summary, not confirmation that a particular berth type is currently available.

casual berthing, permanent berthing, liveaboard

Wet berths?A marina-wide figure where supplied; it does not indicate vacancies.

73

Maximum vessel length?A marina-wide limit where supplied, not the dimensions of an available berth.

22 m

Maximum draft?A sourced limit where supplied. Confirm the controlling depth for the route and exact berth.

3.4 m

Showers

Recorded as present

Liveaboard

Allowed

Laundry

Recorded as available

Chandlery

Recorded as available

Security

Recorded as available

A marina-wide maximum is not an available-berth offer. Unlisted facts are unknown, not absent. Values and services can change.

Y O U S A I L / PUBLIC PROFILE

Facilities recorded for Tipperary Waters Marina

YouSail’s public profile lists the following items. Some may be rules or arrangements rather than services; ask the operator what applies today.

• power & water
• showers & laundry
• restaurant/cafe
• chandlery
• lock access
• supermarket (IGA)
• bottleshop
• bus stop
• luggage trolleys
• cyclone-rated berthing
• liferaft servicing (RFD agent nearby)

These are YouSail-sourced notes, not a live availability feed or a Find Marinas endorsement.

SERVICES IN DEPTH

Berthing and marina services

The 73 berths are documented to an unusual degree: liveaboard capacity comprises 21 twelve-metre, 18 fifteen-metre, four eighteen-metre and two twenty-metre berths, while storage-only berths number 17 twelve-metre, eight fifteen-metre, one eighteen-metre and one twenty-two-metre pen. Maximum vessel size is 22 metres LOA, 6.1 metres beam and 3.4 metres draft. All berths carry power (15 and 20-amp outlets) and fresh water, and the amenity block provides a laundromat, toilets and showers, with trolleys for hauling gear, car parking and rubbish facilities. The marina office manages berth bookings, which span casual, permanent and liveaboard arrangements, and berths should be booked well ahead in the dry season. Lock access is tide-dependent: movements require at least four metres of tide, so the lockmaster (0407 075 077, VHF channel 8, callsign 'Tipperary Lock') schedules entries around the tidal window, and the lock coordinates (12 26.948 S, 130 51.086 E) are published for first-time arrivals. There is no fuel berth in the marina; fuelling is done at the Cullen Bay self-service dock or the Fishermans Wharf jetty nearby. The estate chandlery, Nautical Supplies, doubles as the RFD liferaft service agent, and Darwin Ship Stores near Fishermans Wharf is a second option within the precinct. Day-to-day provisioning is covered by the IGA supermarket, bottleshop, fast food and restaurants around the estate, with a bus stop for runs into the city. Liveaboards get the full residential treatment here, which in Darwin makes Tipperary Waters unique. Cyclone-rated construction means the berths and pile moorings were engineered for the Top End's storm season, and the marina maintains documented procedures for securing the basin when a warning is declared. Rental berths are limited, pricing is quoted by the marina office on application, and terms require the usual insurance and biosecurity clearances common to all Darwin lock marinas.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Planning a visit to Darwin Harbour / Sadgroves Creek

The approach to Tipperary Waters is the same Sadgroves Creek route used for Bayview: pass Stokes Hill Wharf into Frances Bay on at least four metres of rising tide, keeping to the centre and port markers while dodging the moored and anchored boats that crowd the deeper water. Regulars warn of a bar slowly building outside the lock entrance; current practice is to pass to the port side of the last port-hand buoy and take a diagonal line into the lock rather than following the charted channel blindly, and at low tide the chart really does show you sailing over dry land. Call the lockmaster well before Stokes Hill to confirm your slot. Once inside, the CBD is a 20 to 25-minute walk and the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association's bar and hardstand are two minutes away, a combination that makes this Stuart Park pocket the most practical cruising quarter in Darwin. Anchorage options outside include Frances Bay, handy for waiting on the tide. The marina's position also suits the working side of the harbour: Fishermans Wharf's fuel and ice are close, and the Frances Bay Mooring Basin is the next lock along for anything too big for Tipperary's gates. Dry-season demand is heavy and rental berths are limited, so book well in advance; in the wet, the cyclone rating and lock-protected water are the attraction. Local quirks are tidal rather than cultural: plan every arrival and departure around the four-metre rule, keep fenders both sides in the lock, and treat the creek's crocodiles as residents rather than visitors.

Use current charts, forecasts, warnings and the operator’s latest arrival instructions before navigating.

YOUSAIL MEDIA

Tipperary Waters Marina gallery

Images are supplied through the YouSail record. Satellite views are orientation aids only and must not be used for navigation.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Questions to ask Tipperary Waters Marina before booking

1. Is a berth currently available for my vessel’s exact length, beam and loaded draft at Tipperary Waters Marina?
2. What are the current approach and depth conditions for Darwin Harbour / Sadgroves Creek?
3. Which of the listed berth arrangements (casual berthing, permanent berthing, liveaboard) is available for my stay?
4. What shore-power supply, connector, current limit and metering apply at the assigned berth?
5. What is the full cost, including utilities, deposits and cancellation terms?

PLAN WITH CURRENT INFORMATION

Navigation and arrival checks for Tipperary Waters Marina

Directory details are for discovery. For a passage, use current official charts, weather, warnings and Notices to Mariners for the exact waterway. Confirm the marina’s latest entry procedure directly; advice here can be wrong.