Berry Island is the little bush-covered knob poking out of the harbour at Wollstonecraft, on the lower north shore just west of the Harbour Bridge. Technically it stopped being an island long ago — a grassed causeway now joins it to the mainland — but from the water it still reads as one: a pocket of angophora bush and Aboriginal heritage ringed by the quiet waters of Balls Head Bay and Gore Cove. For boaties it’s a lovely, low-key destination: flat water, a green outlook, city towers just visible over the ridge, and hardly another boat in sight on a weekday. Here’s how to do it properly.
Boats for a Berry Island picnic run
Pricing, photos and open dates across the fleet.
Where is Berry Island and what’s actually there?
Berry Island Reserve sits at the tip of Wollstonecraft, between Balls Head to its east and Gore Cove’s oil-terminal shoreline to its west. Ashore it’s a council reserve with lawns, picnic tables and the Gadyan Track — a short walking loop named for the Sydney language word for the cockle shells found in the middens here. The island carries significant Aboriginal heritage, including rock engravings and shell middens, which is a big part of why the bush on it has been left largely intact. The result, from the water: a genuinely green anchor-off spot fifteen minutes from the Opera House.
How do you get there by boat from The Spit?
Our self-drive base is at The Spit Reserve in Mosman, so the run goes: down Middle Harbour past Clontarf and Balmoral, around Middle Head into the main harbour, then west past Bradleys Head, Cremorne Point and Kirribilli. You’ll pass under the Harbour Bridge — always a moment, however many times you’ve done it — then continue past Blues Point and around Balls Head into Balls Head Bay. Berry Island is the bushy point on the bay’s western side. At relaxed cruising pace it’s somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour from The Spit depending on traffic and how often you slow for photos, which makes it a natural centrepiece for a half-day hire: icons on the way there, picnic at the island, swim stop on the way home.
It’s a rewarding route because the character keeps changing: Middle Harbour’s beaches, the open harbour mouth, the postcard stretch past the Opera House, then suddenly the older, quieter, working-harbour feel west of the bridge — Balls Head’s sandstone, the old coal loader wharf, oil terminal relics in Gore Cove. It’s the side of the harbour most visitors never see.
Can you land on Berry Island from a boat?
Here’s the honest bit: Berry Island has no wharf, no jetty and no beach worth the name — the shoreline is rock and mangrove edge, and the reserve is designed to be entered on foot via the causeway from Shirley Road, Wollstonecraft. So treat this as an anchor-off destination rather than a step-ashore one. Anchor in Balls Head Bay, enjoy lunch aboard with the bush as your backdrop, and if someone in your group is determined to walk the Gadyan Track, do it by land another day. That constraint is exactly what keeps the place quiet.
Where do you anchor near Berry Island?
Balls Head Bay is the spot — tucked between Balls Head and Berry Island, it’s well protected from the harbour’s main fetch and from most wind directions, with a mud-and-sand bottom that holds well for a lunch stop. Anchor clear of the moorings dotted through the bay, clear of the old wharf structures, and keep an eye on your depth as you edge toward the island’s shoreline — it shallows toward the edges. There’s working infrastructure around Gore Cove, so give any commercial vessel movements a wide, early berth. The bay barely feels wash, and on a weekday you can have the whole outlook more or less to yourself. Speed and distance-off rules apply as everywhere on the harbour — our maritime zones and speed limits guide has the plain-English version.
Is Berry Island good for swimming?
It’s a fair-weather, fair-water proposition. You’re west of the bridge here, and the general Sydney rule applies with extra force: the upper and inner harbour is best for swimming in dry spells and best avoided for a couple of days after decent rain. There’s no netted enclosure or sandy beach at the island itself. Plenty of people do take a cooling dip off the boat in Balls Head Bay on a hot summer day — but if swimming is the headline of your trip, plan your dip for the run home: Athol Bay under Bradleys Head, or back inside Middle Harbour at Chinamans Beach or Clontarf, where the water is cleaner and sandier. Berry Island is the picnic-and-outlook stop, not the swim stop.
What kind of day does Berry Island suit?
Couples and small groups who want quiet. A typical Coral day: leave The Spit mid-morning, take the icons route west, anchor in Balls Head Bay for a long floating lunch — the ice box aboard keeps drinks and a platter cold, and BYO is welcome — then amble home via a swim at Athol Bay or Chinamans. Axopar hirers with a licence can do the same loop faster or push further up the Parramatta River for a look at Cockatoo Island’s cliffs and cranes before doubling back. It also works beautifully as a photography run: Balls Head and Berry Island give you bushland foregrounds with the city stacked behind, an angle you simply can’t get east of the bridge. If you’d rather someone else drove, a skippered charter from our self-drive-alternative agency fleet can run the identical route with you doing nothing but pouring.
Frequently asked questions
Can you tie up or dock at Berry Island?
No — there’s no public wharf or jetty on the island, and the shoreline is rock and mangrove. Anchor off in Balls Head Bay and enjoy it from the water.
How long does it take from The Spit?
Roughly 45 minutes to an hour of relaxed cruising each way, passing the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge en route — the trip is half the fun.
Do I need a licence to hire a boat for this trip?
Not for the Coral — it’s no-licence self-drive for up to 6, with full training at the wharf before you set off. The Axopar 28 needs a NSW boat licence.
Is Balls Head Bay sheltered?
Yes — it’s one of the calmer pockets west of the bridge, protected by Balls Head and Berry Island on either side. It’s a comfortable lunch anchorage in most conditions.
Can we visit the Aboriginal sites on the island?
The Gadyan Track and its interpretive signage are accessed on foot from Wollstonecraft, not from the water. From the boat, enjoy the bush outlook and leave the shoreline undisturbed.