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Carlingford Marina is located on the southwest shore of the Carlingford Lough inlet that is set into Ireland's northeast coastline. The large 170-berth marina has 20 visitor berths that cater for all vessels ranging from light speedboats to large sailing vessels. There are also club moorings available outside the marina.

Carlingford Marina is located on the southwest shore of the Carlingford Lough inlet that is set into Ireland's northeast coastline. The large 170-berth marina has 20 visitor berths that cater for all vessels ranging from light speedboats to large sailing vessels. There are also club moorings available outside the marina.

Once inside the marina, a vessel is assured complete protection. The marina is accessed via Warrenpoint Port’s illuminated deep water shipping channel. This runs the entire length of the lough and makes the marina accessible at all states of the tide. Careful navigation is generally required for this location owing to exceptional currents in the lower lough and at the entrance.
Please note

It is essential to proceed to No. 18 port marker buoy to round the Carlingford Bank before commencing a final approach. This requires a vessel to pass the marina to port, in the channel outside the bank, and then double back to approach the marina from the north inside the bank. Vessels cutting directly across will most likely wind up on the Carlingford Bank. During northwest winds, the inlet is subject to heavy squalls that descend from the hills.




5 comments
Keyfacts for Carlingford Marina
Facilities
Water available via tapWaste disposal bins availableDiesel fuel available alongsideGas availableMini-supermarket or supermarket availableSlipway availableLaundry facilities availableShore power available alongsideShore based toilet facilitiesShowers available in the vicinity or by arrangementHot food available in the localityPublic house or wine bar in the areaMarked or notable walks in the vicinity of this locationCashpoint or bank available in the areaPost Office in the areaInternet café in the areaInternet via a wireless access point availableDoctor or hospital in the areaPharmacy in the areaChandlery available in the areaTrolley or cart available for unloading and loadingHaul-out capabilities via arrangementBoatyard with hard-standing available here; covered or uncoveredScrubbing posts or a place where a vessel can dry out for a scrub below the waterlineMarine engineering services available in the areaRigging services available in the areaElectronics or electronic repair available in the areaHandicapped access supportedShore based family recreation in the area


Nature
Marina or pontoon berthing facilitiesVisitors moorings available, or possibly by club arrangementNavigation lights to support a night approachSailing Club baseScenic location or scenic location in the immediate vicinitySet near a village or with a village in the immediate vicinity

Considerations
Dangerous to enter when it is Beaufort force 5 or more from NE, ENE, E, ESE and SE.Restriction: strong to overwhelming tides in the localityNote: fish farming activity in the vicinity of this locationNote: could be two hours or more from the main waterwaysNote: strong tides or currents in the area that require considerationNote: harbour fees may be charged

Protected sectors

Current wind over the protected quadrants
Minimum depth
2 metres (6.56 feet).

Approaches
2 stars: Careful navigation; good visibility and conditions with dangers that require careful navigation.
Shelter
5 stars: Complete protection; all-round shelter in all reasonable conditions.



Last modified
September 9th 2022

Summary* Restrictions apply

A completely protected location with careful navigation required for access.

Facilities
Water available via tapWaste disposal bins availableDiesel fuel available alongsideGas availableMini-supermarket or supermarket availableSlipway availableLaundry facilities availableShore power available alongsideShore based toilet facilitiesShowers available in the vicinity or by arrangementHot food available in the localityPublic house or wine bar in the areaMarked or notable walks in the vicinity of this locationCashpoint or bank available in the areaPost Office in the areaInternet café in the areaInternet via a wireless access point availableDoctor or hospital in the areaPharmacy in the areaChandlery available in the areaTrolley or cart available for unloading and loadingHaul-out capabilities via arrangementBoatyard with hard-standing available here; covered or uncoveredScrubbing posts or a place where a vessel can dry out for a scrub below the waterlineMarine engineering services available in the areaRigging services available in the areaElectronics or electronic repair available in the areaHandicapped access supportedShore based family recreation in the area


Nature
Marina or pontoon berthing facilitiesVisitors moorings available, or possibly by club arrangementNavigation lights to support a night approachSailing Club baseScenic location or scenic location in the immediate vicinitySet near a village or with a village in the immediate vicinity

Considerations
Dangerous to enter when it is Beaufort force 5 or more from NE, ENE, E, ESE and SE.Restriction: strong to overwhelming tides in the localityNote: fish farming activity in the vicinity of this locationNote: could be two hours or more from the main waterwaysNote: strong tides or currents in the area that require considerationNote: harbour fees may be charged



Marina +353 42 9373075      info@carlingfordmarina.ie      Ch.M, 36, 16
Position and approaches
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Haven position

54° 3.130' N, 006° 11.430' W

At the marina entrance marked with day marks and Port and Starboard lights, QR 4m 1M and QG 4m 1M.

What is the initial fix?

The following Carlingford Lough Entrance Initial Fix will set up a final approach:
54° 0.100' N, 006° 2.052' W
500 metres due south of Hellyhunter, a south cardinal buoy Q(6) +FL1.15s. From here the line of the entrance’s leading light beacons may be picked up.


What are the key points of the approach?

Offshore details are available in eastern Ireland’s Coastal Overview for Strangford Lough to Dublin Bay Route location and directions for the run up the lough are available in the Warrenpoint Click to view haven entry.
  • Follow the well buoyed and lit commercial channel up the lough to the No.18 port hand marker.

  • Do not be tempted to cut across directly before the mark as this will bring a vessel upon the Carlingford Bank.

  • Round the mark and approach the Carlingford Marina from the north.



Not what you need?
Click the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons to progress through neighbouring havens in a coastal 'clockwise' or 'anti-clockwise' sequence. Below are the ten nearest havens to Carlingford Marina for your convenience.
Ten nearest havens by straight line charted distance and bearing:
  1. Carlingford Harbour - 0.6 nautical miles SSE
  2. Killowen - 1.4 nautical miles N
  3. Rostrevor - 1.7 nautical miles N
  4. Greer’s Quay - 2 nautical miles NW
  5. Omeath - 3.1 nautical miles NW
  6. Greencastle - 3.2 nautical miles ESE
  7. Warrenpoint - 3.5 nautical miles NW
  8. Giles Quay - 4.4 nautical miles SSW
  9. Kilkeel Harbour - 7 nautical miles E
  10. Dundalk - 7.5 nautical miles WSW
These havens are ordered by straight line charted distance and bearing, and can be reordered by compass direction or coastal sequence:
  1. Carlingford Harbour - 0.6 miles SSE
  2. Killowen - 1.4 miles N
  3. Rostrevor - 1.7 miles N
  4. Greer’s Quay - 2 miles NW
  5. Omeath - 3.1 miles NW
  6. Greencastle - 3.2 miles ESE
  7. Warrenpoint - 3.5 miles NW
  8. Giles Quay - 4.4 miles SSW
  9. Kilkeel Harbour - 7 miles E
  10. Dundalk - 7.5 miles WSW
To find locations with the specific attributes you need try:

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Chart
Please use our integrated Navionics chart to appraise the haven and its approaches. Navionics charts feature in premier plotters from B&G, Raymarine, Magellan and are also available on tablets. Open the chart in a larger viewing area by clicking the expand to 'new tab' or the 'full screen' option.

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What's the story here?
Carlingford Marina
Image: Michael Harpur


Carlingford Marina is situated on the southwest side of the lough about 4 miles from Haulbowline Light House, marking the entrance, and 2½ miles to the northwest of Greenore Point. It is located in a rural setting ½ a mile northwest of Carlingford, the main town of the Cooley Peninsula. The marina basin is enclosed by stone and concrete breakwaters. These are based on a concrete caisson design with a crown wall above the highest astronomical tide level. Within the centre of the marina is a permanently moored ship 40 metres long. Adjoining the marina basin is a dry boat storage area, which will accommodate up to 65 boats depending upon size.

Carlingford Marina can accommodate boats of up to 25 metres LOA, carrying a maximum draft is 2.2 metres (vessels larger than 15.5 metres LOA only by prior arrangement). The marina has a stated depth of 2.2 metres MLWS but the visitor's pontoon has reportedly as little as 1.5 metres over soft mud, so movements may be restricted at low water Springs. Vessels of 2 metres draft are advised to avoid navigating within the marina basin for 2 hours on either side of low water.


Carlingford Marina's 170 berths
Image: Michael Harpur


The marina has a total of 170 berths with over 20 reserved solely for visiting boats. It is nevertheless advisable to make berthing arrangements in advance with the marina. Carlingford Marina office hours 9 am - 6 pm, 7 days a week, VHF 16, 37(M1) [Carlingford Marina], Landline+353 (0) 42 937 3072, E-mailinfo@carlingfordmarina.ie, Websitewww.carlingfordmarina.

Carlingford Sailing Club has four of their complementary deepwater visitor moorings to the north of the marina. These are available by arrangement with the club, VHF Ch. 16 [Carlingford Sailing Club], Landline+353 (0) 42 937 3238, Mobile+353 (0) 87 980 7774, E-mailinfo@carlingfordsailingclub.net and have a web site for further information Websitewww.carlingfordsailingclub.


How to get in?
Carlingford Marina with Warrenpoint at the head of the Lough visible in the
backdrop

Image: Michael Harpur


Convergance Point Seaward approaches are detailed in eastern Ireland’s coastal overview for Strangford Lough to Dublin Bay Route location. Use the directions provided for Warrenpoint Click to view haven for approaches and the run up the No.18 Port Hand Channel Buoy Fl R (4) 8s.


Carlingford Marina and with Carlingford Harbour in the backdrop
Image: Tourism Ireland


This mark visibly carries a vessel past Carlingford Harbour, made conspicuous by the town, piers and castle, and then the Marina itself which is situated 1 mile north by northwest. But it is essential to continue as far as buoy No.18 and approach the marina from the north to avoid the Carlingford Bank.

No. 18 Buoy situate a ½ mile northward of the entrance
Image: Michael Harpur


This bank lies in front of the marina, between it and the channel, and terminates before the buoy. The bank's outer edge dries and is steep-to. Between it and the shore, there are extensive shallows reducing from 1.7 to 1.6 in the area to the east of the marina gradually shallowing southward towards Carlingford Harbour.
Please note

Cut the No.18 marker at your peril.




The marina's northward facing entrance is narrow
Image: Michael Harpur


Once round the northwest end of the Carlingford Bank, taking the No.18 buoy to port, steer a course of about 190°T for the marina. It is about a ½ mile back to the marina entrance that is marked with day marks and Port and Starboard lights, QR 4m 1M and QG 4m 1M. Caution is required with the entrance as it is about 5-7m wide and could prove challenging, especially in rough weather.


The wait berth is on the hammerhead immediately inside the entrance
Image: Michael Harpur


Haven location The marina basin is enclosed by stone and concrete breakwaters. The northern part of the marina basin accommodates 80 berths and the southern a further 70 pontoon berths. The wait pontoon is the hammerhead immediately inside the entrance. Alternatively, berth as directed by the marina office.

Carlingford Sailing Club's four complementary deepwater visitor moorings are to the north of the marina.


Why visit here?
Queen Medb
Image: Public Domain Queen Maev by J. C. Leyendecker
Ireland possesses a wealth of orally transmitted sagas and histories that is almost unequalled in northern Europe. Those who berth at Carlingford Marina, on the beautiful Cooley Peninsula, come alongside a shoreline that is steeped in this antiquity and mythology. For this area is the setting for one of the nation's most prominent late Iron Age Gaelic saga called the ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’, otherwise known as 'The Táin Saga' or the 'Rúraíocht' in Irish.

The saga was composed in prose with verse passages in the 7th - 8th century, probably by monks in various versions who were acquainted with such epics as the 'Aeneid'. But this tale is far more ancient than that and was told and retold during the iron age. The 'Bull of Cooley', or 'the driving-off of cows of Cooley', most commonly known as 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley’, is the longest Irish narrative and the central epic of the 'Ulster Cycle' of mythological sagas, if not the most famous tale in Irish mythology.

It portrays an Ireland divided into four kingdoms: Ulaid (Ulster), Connachta(Connaught), Laigin (Leinster), and Mumu (Munster), divisions that persisted into the Middle Ages to become administrative regions of the present day. Within this national context of provincial rivalry is a tale of jealousy, heroism and superhero warrior deeds, largely surrounding the national mythical warrior Cú Chulainn.


Cú Chulainn & the Bull as depicted by Karl Beutel
Image: Eige Arbeid via ASA 3.0


The Táin involves the story of the Queen Medb of Connacht and her husband Ailill. Medb was measuring up their worldly possessions and found that they were equal in all respects except one; Ailill owned an outstanding white bull that vastly outclassed anything she had. Although she was powerful, she was jealous of her husband Ailill's white bull. Searching for an equal, Medb discovered the Brown Bull of Cooley in Ulster was its equal and she was determined to have it. The bull Donn Cuailnge was the property of Daire, an Ulster chieftain who refused to lend it to her. So Medb gathered an army and mounted an expedition to seize the bull from Daire and his guardians, Ulster’s legendary and formidable 'Red Branch Knights'.


The Gundestrup Cauldron
Image: Rosemania Via CC ASA 2.0


In the event the formidable men of Ulster were afflicted by a debilitating curse, 'The Pangs of Ulster' that caused them to become, as legend has it… "as feeble as a kittens". This left the seventeen-year-old national hero Cú Chulainn, who was free of the spell, to defend Ulster from Medb's army single-handedly. Much of the action in the Táin surrounds the efforts of the hero Cú Chulainn who challenged each Connacht man to fight one-on-one before they could advance, and he slew them all. This standoff culminated in a 'clash-of-the-titans' battle between Cú Chulainn and his foster brother Fer Díad who had joined the Connaught forces. Both haD been trained in combat by the famous she-warrior Scáthach in Scotland and were well matched. Their battle is one of the most famous passages in early Irish literature and after three days of mortal combat, Fer Díad fell.


The Gundestrup Cauldron depicting Cú Chulainn triumph in the Cattle Raid of
Cooley

Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen CC ASA 4.0


In the end Medb managed to seize the bull and brought it home to Connaught. But it did not end well for her as the brown bull went wild and fought the white bull until the earth shook. Finally, Donn Cuailnge, the brown bull of Cooley, caught the white bull by the horns and shook it to pieces. Soon after Donn Cuailnge died whilst making its way home to Ulster. Nor did it end well for Cú Chulainn as Queen Maeve took revenge on him by using sorcerers to lure him to his death.

Cú Chulainn statue in the GPO
Image: Jennifer Boyer via CC ASA 2.0
This is an ancient tale that predates the monk's retelling as, most remarkably, a 2,300-year-old Gundestrup Cauldron unearthed in a peat bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup (Denmark), depicts Cú Chulainn triumph in the 'Cattle Raid of Cooley'. The richly-decorated 9 kg silver vessel was found in 1891, far beyond the northern edge of the Celtic region so this was a tale that travelled. Today, in Dublin’s GPO, a statue of the slain Cú Chulainn commemorates the heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Carlingford Marina provides a secure and tranquil intimate base at the foot slopes of the Cooley Mountains. A day's sail from Dublin, Belfast, The Isle of Man, the West Coast of England and North Wales, the marina is the ideal location to arrive at and explore the most picturesque inlet on the east coast of Ireland and the Cooley peninsula. Unlike many parts of Ireland, the Cooley Peninsula provides good walking country. A hiking route encircles the Cooley Peninsula, offering stunning mountain and sea views, whilst passing sites of mythological importance, and medieval buildings.

From a boating perspective, the lough provides both interesting sailing plus a variety of beautiful locations to anchor in waters that are absent of swell. The marina itself offers a unique blend of natural beauty, spectacular panoramas, and myths and legends that combine with a modern-day culture and great boating facilities. Add the backdrop of the Cooley peninsula, with the Carlingford Mountains, dramatic views across Carlingford Lough and County Down’s 'Mountains of Mourne' from the pontoon, and the marina has all the ingredients in place to make it one of the most picturesque berths in Leinster.


What facilities are available?
Carlingford Marina has fuel, water, electricity, toilets, showers plus garbage disposal. Adjoining the marina basin is a hardcore surfaced dry boat storage area, that can accommodate up to 65 boats. Access to the water is provided either by the 50 tonne capacity boat travel lift, or a 7 metre wide concrete slipway into the marina basin. Winter storage can be arranged, and a boat yard can provide repair facilities and a chandlery. Ashore there is a public telephone, free WiFi, and a first class bar and restaurant with spectacular views of the Mourne and Cooley Mountains. The marina has a Helipad Coordinates 54°03’00.7’’N / 6°11’28.3’’W

Within ten minute's walk is Carlingford town, although hardly bigger than a village it has a surprising array of excellent facilities such as hotels, restaurants, pubs, a post office, a reasonably good supermarket, newsagent, launderette, water, fuel, gas and a host of tourist attractions. A launching slip is available at high tide on the east pier.

Useful transport contacts in this area:
Dundalk Train Station P: + 353 42 933 5521
Dundalk Bus Station P: + 353 42 9334075
Newry Bus Station P: + 44 28 30623531
Newry Train Station P: + 44 28 30269271


Any security concerns?
Carlingford Marina is a secured access location.


With thanks to:
Charlie Kavanagh - ISA/RYA Yachtmaster Instructor/Examiner. Photography with thanks to Eric Jones, Norman McMullan, Albert Bridge, Teufelbeutel and Colm Rice.










Aerial views of Carlingford and Carlingford Marina



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Add your review or comment:


Rodolphe Thimonier wrote this review on Jun 28th 2016:

Probably the best (although not perfect) shelter in Carlingford Lough. However, being only 5-7m wide, the marina entrance is challenging, specially in rough wether. Furthermore, at low water, it is only accessible to shallow drafts and the marina itself is not suitable for deep drafts (whatever the guy of the marina might say, the depth under the visitors pontoon is about 1.5m - according to my rough estimate done when I was standing on my keel). At least the ground is a soft silt. The slack water period between two tides at the Lough entrance is very short, so you either have the current (several knots) with you or against you. With north-wersterly winds, in the Lough you can expect a wind strength twice that forcast, and only 2 shelters in such conditions: Carlingford Lough Marina and Warrenpoint.

Average Rating: ***


Chris Herbert wrote this review on May 17th 2017:

In the section "What are the key points of the approach?", I recommend including a reference to the lighthouse which stands near the entrance to the lough. As the lighthouse is mid-channel a note such as the following could be considered:

Keep Haulbowline lighthouse to port as you enter the lough and pick up the lateral buoys that line the channel.

Average Rating: ***


Unknown wrote this review on May 17th 2017:

Thank you Chris for your suggestion. As you can see I have taken your advice.

Average Rating: Unrated


Sailor Fred wrote this review on Oct 21st 2017:

Looking at the Navionics chart above...if you switch the depth display to SonarChart (using the icon on the bottom left of the screen) you will see a depth contour of 0.5M in the fairway between pontoons C & D. Also you can see the mud in the fairway in the "Failte Ireland" aerial picture above. This fairway is not navigable at LWS.

Average Rating: Unrated


Ron Lub wrote this review on Jun 13th 2019:

Nice little harbour, with our depth 1.70 we touch the ground with low, but it is soft mud
Fee was € 25.00 all in. that's fair.
the port needs some maintenance
Surrounding has nice walks and bicycle roads

Average Rating: Unrated

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