Location: Esperance, Western Australia
Duration: 21st – 29th January 2024
Cost: $68.00* per night inclusive of electricity and water.
We arrived at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour Marina (Esperance) around 0700. Sandra prepped the boat for docking as we entered the breakwater, and as we took a sharp starboard turn it quickly became apparent that our regular docking set up was not going to work. The Trawler North pen, which we were assigned, was a wharf with large old wooden pylons, the end one dressed in old tyres. Well, it was a mad scramble as the wooden gangway was higher than the deck, so all the fenders had to be raised. And there was not a cleat in sight. We were blow on, so Peter managed to steer the boat so that Sandra could get off, unfortunately in doing so a black tyre mark discoloured the side of Sea Goddess, ugh!
Once off Sandra secured a midship line around the nearest pole which was about half way along. Peter left the helm and threw out the bow line which was also secured but the boat still needed to move forward. By loosening the midship line; bringing in the bow line and using the engines, little by little we moved her along, repositioning fenders (mainly horizontally) as we went. Once settled, we added two stern lines.
Peter wasn’t satisfied with the protection offered by the fenders, so while we had the use of a hire car we took a trip to Bunnings to buy structural pine to use as barge poles. Holes were drilled along the edge at either end and ropes put in place; the fenders were returned to their vertical position and the wooden poles put in place horizontally which offered much greater protection to the hull. A couple of small fishing trawlers were also tied up to the wharf, with pile moorings used in the rest of the marina. A power boat club and boat ramp are situated across from the marina.
Adjacent to the wharf is the marina office, ablution block, as well as a couple of fish factories. The wharf area is frequented by anglers at all times of the day and night, and we found a cut line with hook and bait on our trampoline at one point.
Staffing: A Department of Transport staff member is onsite Monday – Friday during business hours. All arrangements for the berth were easily completed via phone or email. Docking assistance is not available at this marina.
Security: There are no dedicated onsite security staff. Access to the marina car park is open to the public at all times.
Access to our area was via a solitary gate with two keys provided, one for the gate the other for the shower block. The gated walkway was a bit of a joke really, as a public beach was situated directly opposite our starboard side. The walkway had two steel ladders, one on each side and at either end of the walkway. So kids, teens, adults would swim out to the ladders, access the walkway, climb up the last wooden pole and jump off ….. over and over again. After a while you just zone out, until one guy decided to pull on our dock lines, and another climbed on deck ran to the front of the boat and jumped in. They only did it the once!
The ’permanent’ part of the marina has a combination lock to allow entry.
Parking: There is no designated marina parking area in place; and what parking is available is unsecured.
Amenities: Unisex showers are accessed via a key. In our assessment these were not of an appropriate standard and cleanliness was questionable. Furthermore, the shower doors and surrounds were such that anyone could look in underneath or over the top. Which in our view was a significant safety risk. So we showered onboard at night.
Segregated male and female toilets are part of the same building, these are open to the public with 24 hour access.
Laundry: There are no onsite laundry facilities. We had no need for a laundromat while we were here, so are unable to provide details on where and how much.
Pump out: Not available.
Wifi: Free wifi is not available at this marina.
Fuel: There is no fuel dock available. Fuel can be delivered to the dock by local arrangement, check with the DoT representative. We took advantage of the hire car by filling up on diesel at a local service station.
Hard stand, oil and waste disposal are not available at this marina.
Haul out facilities are available here but we cannot comment on specifications, arrangements or pricing.
Noise: We were here during school holidays so it was to be expected that the adjacent beach and swimming area would be popular. However, the constant running along the wooden walkway to our boat via the ladders, yelling, screaming, bombing got old really quickly.
Also unexpected was the horse trailers that arrived around 0630 each morning. There is a racetrack and stables nearby, and the horses would be unloaded and using a large pole attached to the bridle sent out for a swim whilst the trainers/owners walked along the beach. Certainly different, and the horses were a lot quieter than the humans.
Shops/Chandlery: There are no grocery, hardware shops or chandlery near this marina. Woolworths, Kmart, cafes, pubs and specialty shops are located within the town centre (refer below). Bunnings is located on the outskirts of the town.
The marina is not well placed for live aboards. There is no public transport within cooee of this marina. The town centre is about 9 – 10 kms away, we initially used a cab ($28.50 one way), then hire car, then foot falcon.
Overall we rated this marina 2/10.
*Prices correct at time of publication.