Explore Newport Dunes Marina
About 450 slips on the calmest water in Newport Harbor, where a 100-acre waterfront resort meets the Back Bay — and the open ocean is a slow, scenic forty minutes away.
A Marina Born of an Aquatic Park
Newport Dunes traces its story to 1958, when a group of Southern California businessmen imagined an aquatic park on the Back Bay — something to connect the Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm tourist corridor to the water. They built a 230-slip marina, RV camping followed, and the property grew into the hundred-acre resort that sits here today: more than 400 full-hookup RV sites, 27 cottages, a mile of waveless lagoon beachfront, a seasonal inflatable water park, and a marina that has roughly doubled to about 450 slips. It is an unusual pedigree for a Newport Beach marina, and it shows — in a good way.
The marina occupies the calmest water in the harbor, a protected lagoon where the tranquil Upper Newport Bay meets Newport Harbor proper, far from any ocean swell. The docks are extra-wide concrete with single-loaded berths — no neighbor sharing your finger — a layout roomy enough that the marina makes a point of it. Slips run 20 to 46 feet, with end ties taking vessels to roughly 65 feet, and each berth has 30- and 50-amp power, fresh water, Wi-Fi, and TV hookups. The whole operation runs around the clock, with fob-gated entry at the main gate and every gangway, 24-hour security patrols, and cameras on the docks.
What sets the place apart is what stands behind it: the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, one of Southern California's largest coastal wetlands, with 135 acres of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails and some of the best estuary birdwatching on the coast. It is a rare arrangement — a full-service marina with a wild estuary at its back door and the shops of Balboa Island a slow cruise down-harbor.
Boating From the Back Bay
Leaving the Dunes takes patience, and that is part of the appeal. All of Newport Harbor is a 5-mph no-wake zone, strictly enforced by the Harbor Patrol, so the run from the marina to the open ocean is about forty minutes at displacement speed — an unhurried pass by Balboa Island, the 1906 Balboa Pavilion, and the Fun Zone's ferris wheel before you reach the entrance jetty. Once past the breakwater, the options are classic Southern California: coastal runs along Corona del Mar and Crystal Cove, or the roughly 26-nautical-mile crossing to Catalina Island.
Head the other direction and you enter the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, a designated slow-speed wildlife area suited to kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and electric Duffy boats — all of which Moe B's rents right on the property. It is one of the best birdwatching estuaries on the coast, and for many slip renters the short paddle into the reserve becomes as regular a habit as the run outside: no fuel, no forty-minute idle, just calm estuary water a few strokes from the dock.
The Dunes is also Newport Harbor's main trailer-boat gateway. The multi-lane public launch ramp comes with assisted-launch service, boarding floats, and about 300 trailer parking spaces, and California's Division of Boating and Waterways lists 486 dry-storage units on site for boats 20 to 45 feet, plus racks for kayaks, dinghies, and paddleboards. Sewage and bilge pumpout and oil disposal are handled on the property. For fuel, The Log's directory lists Upper Newport Bay among the harbor's fuel locations, with full-service docks at Island Marine Fuel on Balboa Island and Hill's Boat Service at the Balboa Pavilion a short cruise down-harbor.
Life Around the Docks
The shoreside scene is family-resort waterfront rather than yacht-club formal. Concrete docks share the shoreline with RVs, beach cabanas, fire pits, and kids on pedal boats, and the social center of gravity is Moe B's Munchies, the beachfront grill and bar — burgers, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, pizzas, hand-shaken margaritas — which doubles as the watersports rental operation. The Market & Café covers provisions and coffee. One note for returning visitors: the Back Bay Bistro, the glass-walled restaurant once known for its weekend brunch and clam chowder, has closed to the public and now operates as a private event venue.
A slip here comes with more than a berth. There is a marina clubhouse with a lounge, meeting rooms, and a full kitchen, along with clean restrooms, showers, laundry, and ample parking. Beyond that, slip renters get run of the resort — pool and spa, beachside lounge areas, cabanas, playgrounds, and bike paths — plus a year-round calendar of events on the lagoon beach, from the Tunes at the Dunes summer concert series to Movies on the Beach. It is the kind of place where a day on the boat dissolves into an evening on the sand without anyone getting back in the car.
The surrounding neighborhood holds up its end. Balboa Island is a short cruise down-harbor, with its waterfront boardwalk, Marine Avenue shops, and frozen bananas; the Balboa Pavilion and Fun Zone sit near the harbor entrance. By land, Fashion Island's open-air shopping and dining and the beach streets of Corona del Mar are a few minutes' drive. The resort itself has been named one of Good Sam's Top 100 RV Parks in the U.S. — a distinction few marinas can claim for a next-door neighbor. And the nature preserve is not down the road; it is the back fence.
