On the water

Welcome to the wonderful waterways of Port Stephens and particularly North Arm Cove.

A great many of us came to North Arm Cove because of the access, scenic quality and relative peace of the place and its waters. The north shore of Port Stephens offers great opportunities for fishing, kayaking (kayaks are a must have in NAC!), waterskiing, sailing or just knocking about in boats from canoes to offshore yachts. The increase in moored powerboats and yachts in the past 10 years has been incredible, and many of the owners are not necessarily locals, coming from places as far...

Observations by Gary Sylvaney - a NAC boating resident.

Having arrived in the Cove just 6 years ago, my first close involvement with moves for a Community Jetty and Community Boat Ramp occurred with the Royal Haskoning DHV Survey during 2016. Prior to that, it was the disappointment experienced when I discovered the Council Plan prominently displayed at Casuarina Reserve in 2012 for a Community Jetty and Ramp was not going to happen. It had played a large part in our decision to purchase a property across the road from the Reserve.

At the time we...

The second most important issue after the weather, when boating, is the facilities available at either end of your journey.
The destination of Lemon Tree Passage is perhaps the best exponent of this need on the Port Stephens waterway .
I am talking about the easy of how you get on & get off your boat plus the launching & retrieval facilities at both start & end of the journey.
Having just attended “Lemon Jam” music day at Lemon Tree Passage & experienced their new , almost completed facilities, I”m impressed.

Apart from good...

Changes to Recreational Crab Net Rules in Port Stephens

New rules came into force in Port Stephens in May 2015 in regards to crab trap equipment. Existing crab traps and witches hats must be modified to lower the risk of turtle entanglement.

Given the high reported drowning rate of turtles in Port Stephens and recognition of the estuary being important for turtles, a trial of new crab gear rules is being implemented in Port Stephens requiring:

1) Recreational witches hats to be modified so that the entanglement net is not inverted when set, that...