Divers lose boat, swim 1km to shore

Simon Barker (right) with a Coastguard amphibious boat. Photo/File

Two men diving near Rabbit Island faced a long swim to shore after their boat blew away in strong winds.

Tauranga Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker said the two men had been diving somewhere off Rabbit Island (Motuotau) on Sunday and when they came up, realised their boat had been blown away.

"They managed to swim to shore and raise the alarm. It took them about an hour to swim to shore after they came up.

"They said it was quite hard because of the weather conditions. It was probably quite a struggle."

Winds gusted up to 57km/hr on Sunday.

"Their anchor wasn't holding well enough and because it was quite windy, it blew away and just kept going."

Their boat was aluminium and about 6m long with an outboard motor, so was practical for what the divers were using it for, but the conditions were against them, Mr Barker said.

It was found about 1km off the beach near Omanu by another boatie, who radioed Coastguard.

Mr Barker said the two men were reunited with their boat, a good ending for all involved.