I happened to be staying in Paihia during a tropical storm, which made getting out on the water more difficult than I had hoped. However, I did manage to spend a few hours at sea, over the course of two days.
On the first day, it was overcast and ended up raining torrentially halfway through the paddle. Although the skies were grey and the humidity was unpleasant, the locations were great and I can see it being phenomenal on a clearer day. We set off from Te Ti bay, a large beach between Paihia and the Waitangi Treaty grounds. There is plenty of free parking next to the beach and some on nearby roads, which makes carrying your gear a doddle. From Te Ti, you could go along the coast to the left, which would take you past the Treaty grounds and National reserve. There is a golden sand beach further up to the left, which looks pretty cool, though I haven't visited it. Following the coastline to the right, you'll get to Paihia harbour and beach. If you continue following the coastline from there, you'll get some great views of Paihia and the surrounding luscious green cliffs, with secret bays, great for rest points and checking out the rock pools. This stays pretty calm and is mostly sheltered by the islands, although when the tide is going out, the bays get very shallow and even completely drain to mudflats, which makes it important not to get caught by unfavourable tides.
However, on this day, we decided to explore the nearby Motumaire island (shaped like New Zealand) and Taylor island. Setting off from Te Ti, we paddled about 1.2k (according to Google Maps) out to the larger part of Motumaire. The main beach part of Motumaire is shelly but open, making it a good place to chill out and have a wander. Both sides of the beach have heaps of rockpools, with the usual small creatures like hermit crabs, anemone, chiton and snails. The centre of Motumaire is sheer, but vivid with foliage and totally inaccessible. It's an historic reserve, but also a breeding ground for the endangered Dotterels. They are sweet little birds, fast runners and not too afraid of humans, but keeping out of their breeding grounds is important. It's cordoned off and the birds roam around to feed anyway, so you'll likely see them.
We then paddled out towards Paihia to Taylor island, which didn't have a landing spot, possibly due to the high tide. It is important to keep an eye out for boats around here as you cross the main harbour. Without much to do on Taylor, we paddled right around it and around the back of Motomaire island. This crosses a ferry path, so beware of the ferry and the following wake. The back of Motomaire is more exposed to the elements, giving it a weathered feel. The rock formations look pretty cool with the water eroding rock into gnarled, contorted shapes and closed off coves. We explored around the coves and found that you could climb around the rocks fairly easily.
The side of Motomaire that faces the Treaty grounds was probably the best part, though. Heaps of deep rockpools, beaches, climbs and even a sort of cave making it a cool place to explore before heading back to the shore of Te Ti.
Due to the increasing winds and my astounding incompetence for breaking my thumb the day before, we cut the paddle short and headed back to Te Ti bay, instead of paddling back up to the coast towards the beaches by the Treaty grounds.
The islands are good targets to paddle out to, as there are many of them, so it's easy to set your own goals. They also make it a great place to explore, creating a more dynamic element to your paddle.
Around the islands, the water was a little choppy but fairly sheltered from the wind. Elsewhere, the water was easily affected by the wind and got pretty choppy, especially when the boats were around. This may have been from the storm, although when paddling on a far clearer day, the wind did pick up deceivingly quickly. The tides are another thing to watch out for, as you don't want to get trapped out on the islands and if you've gone for a long paddle, walking your board back to shore isn't going to be high on your to-do list.
This is definitely a paddle for high tide, due to there being far more water and less exposed land at this point; decreasing the chance of scraping your board on the rocks or, perhaps worse, falling and scraping yourself against the rocks.
In terms of difficulty, on a calm day, this would probably be chilled out and pretty easy.
My friend who came out on this paddle had never used a SUP before and seemed to handle it okay, only falling in a few times, although he seemed to find it fairly taxing after a while.
From a confidence point of view, the islands would be better for the more experienced to try, or at least someone who is comfortable with their ability in quickly changing and choppy water.
Having islands so close to the shore was a rewarding experience, as it was easy to set distance goals, with breaks in between to explore different terrain and enjoy the surroundings. From the islands, you get a different perspective of the mainland, offering a serene and rural feel to the town, far different from the up-close impression of a sunny bustling tourist trap.
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