September 14th, 2026Mantaray Marina breathing new life into The Spit
If you’ve lived on the Gold Coast for any length of time, you’ll know The Spit has been a political football for decades. Developers wanted it, locals wanted it protected, governments kept kicking the can down the road, and the whole conversation went around in circles for the better part of 30 years.
Then in 2019, the Queensland Government released The Spit Master Plan – 201 hectares, seven precincts, 23,000-plus pieces of community feedback and a clear blueprint for what the peninsula was actually going to become.
One of the things it called for explicitly was bigger marina berths for superyachts and the infrastructure to support them, as well as public access. And five years on, that’s exactly what’s starting to arrive the first of a stream of superyacht facilities to the north of the Southport Yacht Club along with public access.
The Mantaray Marina opened officially on August 1 this year and it is, without doubt, a serious piece of waterfront infrastructure. Sixty-seven premium berths for vessels between 10 and 60 metres, including 19 dedicated superyacht berths, a floating marina stretching 300 metres out into the Broadwater and walkways wide enough (4.5m) to drive a golf buggy down, which is exactly what they do.
I had a chat with Marina Manager Hugo Littlejohn recently and what struck me most was how thoroughly the whole operation has been thought through.
The walkways aren’t 4.5m by accident, they’re built to superyacht standard, which also means fire engines can get down them if needed. And what a backdrop for a luxury car photo shoot, which according to Hugo, has been recently discussed.
There are two golf buggies, a six-seater for ferrying people to and from their boats, and a utility buggy for provisioning – getting supplies on and rubbish off – the kind of vessels which have considerable amounts of both. “It’s 300 metres out into the Broadwater,” Hugo said. “Being able to drive up and down just takes away the hassle of trolleys.”
Berthing
The berth line-up runs from 18 metres on the northern side up to a 60-metre berth on the outside edge facing the Broadwater, the biggest in the marina’s fleet of 20 berths that are 40 metres or larger. For context, a 60-metre superyacht is roughly the size of two Brisbane CityCats and almost one cross river KittyCat parked nose to stern.
These are serious vessels, and the infrastructure matches them. Every berth has electronically metered power and water, and Hugo can check any berth’s consumption from his computer and bill accordingly. The blackwater pump-out is done in-berth with a mobile trolley rather than requiring boats to leave their berth and go to a central point. Wi-Fi runs throughout. A concierge manager handles everything from provisioning and restaurant bookings to organising trades.
“We position ourselves high on the customer service end,” Hugo said. An understatement. A private Captain’s Lounge, 24-hour security, on-site parking and secure access round out the offer. Fuel bunkering is coordinated through local partner facilities.
What’s next?
And then there’s what’s coming. The wider Mantaray precinct will include waterfront dining and retail, anchored by The Mantaray Club, a two-storey floating lounge venue with restaurant and bar, private function spaces, and a Captain’s Lounge. It sits as the centrepiece of the marina and precinct, the kind of destination that gives crew and guests somewhere to actually go when they come ashore.
Which raises the bigger question and the one the PR team from Gordon Corp answered rather well. Does this put the Gold Coast on the world map for superyachts?
The honest answer is that the Gold Coast has always been on that map, but mainly as a transit point. The traditional route has been superyachts heading north from Sydney toward the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef, stopping at the Gold Coast for a refit or a refuel before pushing on.
What Mantaray changes in the narrative is the infrastructure that gives owners and captains a reason to stay, to make the Gold Coast the destination rather than the stop in between. With the 2032 Olympic Games on the horizon, the timing is deliberate and the ambition is clear.
For locals, the immediate benefits are more tangible than Olympic legacy conversations. New jobs, new waterfront dining, new life breathed into a stretch of the Broadwater that has been underperforming on its potential for a long time. The Spit Master Plan envisioned exactly this kind of development – the kind that serves the water, serves visitors and serves the community without paving over the parkland and dunes that make The Spit worth visiting in the first place.
Hugo is clearly proud of what’s been built, and after walking the marina with him, it’s easy to see why. The Broadwater has always been one of the Gold Coast’s best assets. It’s good to see someone treating it that way.
This is a Gold Coast story worth watching.
Words: Kyle Barnes | Images: Contributed
