Best way to start 2023 in Northland?: Swim out to an island

The Bay of Islands Ocean Swimmers celebrate after starting 2023 with a dawn swim to Motuarahi Island off Paihia. Photo / Darren Markin

While many Northlanders were still tucked into bed or nursing New Year’s Eve hangovers a hardy group of swimmers started 2023 with a dawn swim to an island off Paihia.

Every January 1 since 2006 the Bay of Islands Ocean Swimmers have assembled before daybreak at Paihia’s Taiputuputu Beach then struck out for Motuarahi Island, arriving just in time to see the first sunrise of the year.

Organiser Karen Markin said the enthusiasm of more than 30 participants wasn’t diminished by the tide, which made the swim out to the island “a bit of a slog”, or the clouds that moved in just as the sun was supposed to put in an appearance.

They started at 5.55am and arrived together at Motuarahi, with experienced ocean swimmers encouraging the newbies, in time for the scheduled sunrise at 6.11am.

Some then hitched a ride back to shore on the tide while others circuited the island and swam to Focus Paihia’s swimming pontoon for some early-morning bombs.

“That’s always the best start to the day, let alone the year,” Markin said.

By 7.15am all were tucking into a shared breakfast under a pōhutukawa tree.

The total distance was about 2km and the water a balmy 21C — a lot warmer than the group’s mid-winter swim, another annual ritual.

Markin said this year’s swimmers ranged in age from 11 to 75 and hailed from Paihia, Ōpua, Haruru and Kerikeri, with guests from Auckland and the UK.

What better way to start a day, or a year, than doing bombs off a pontoon? Photo / Karen Markin