KEY POINTS:
As Te Rua Toetoe and his cousin Billy Mackie prepared for a snorkelling trip with three young relatives, they meant to grab a bucket with distress flares and extra lifejackets.
But somehow the bucket was left behind ... and a two-hour trip on Mr Toetoe's 5.5m fibreglass boat, Wait N Sea, to dive for kina and mussels turned into a 28-hour ocean ordeal.
The drama began on Monday after the group of five set off from Maketu, south of Tauranga, at 8.30am.
Mr Toetoe's 13-year-old son, Te Kameta, Mr Mackie's daughter Jane, 15, and another relation, Henare Gardiner, 12, were aboard.
They headed for Motunau Island, known as "The Plate", where Mr Toetoe went snorkelling, first at one spot and then at another where he hoped the pickings would be better.
After his second dive, the weather deteriorated severely.
Visibility was less than a kilometre, the swell was rising, and it was beginning to rain.
The group could not see land and quickly became disoriented.
Only five litres of fuel remained in the boat's petrol tank when, at midday, Mr Mackie texted Mr Toetoe's wife, Sophie, saying they were lost and asking her to call the coastguard.
A search and rescue operation started at 1.23pm, and coastguard crews from Tauranga, Whakatane, Pukehina, Opotiki and Maketu combed the sea as conditions worsened.
They were forced to abandon their efforts in the late afternoon, by which time 5m swells were rolling in at six-second intervals.
Rescue helicopters and a fixed-wing plane also looked without success for the boat until the poor visibility and high winds forced them back.
At night, an Air Force Orion took over the search.
In the boat, Mr Mackie continued trying to send text messages.
He and the others aboard had seen the aircraft but realised the searchers could not see them in the wild seas.
The texts were not getting through because the boat was out of the cellphone coverage area, and the onboard radio was not working.
Mr Mackie said they also realised they had left behind the distress flares, and had only four lifejackets.
"We did have them [the flares], but we grabbed the wrong bucket."
Meanwhile, relatives of the missing group had gathered at the Maketu surf lifesaving club, where they began an agonising wait for news.
Overnight, Mr Toetoe worked to keep the boat balanced as the swells continued to hammer it.
It was too deep to anchor, so the 47-year-old, wearing only his wetsuit, used his weight to keep the craft steady as he and Mr Mackie, 49, tried to make the young ones comfortable.
"We were just scared because of the waves," Jane said.
Said Henare: "We pretty much thought we were going to tip over."
But despite their fears, Mr Mackie said, the group kept one another's spirits up.
"We had some yarns, talked about our loved ones mainly, how much we missed them."
They had potato chips, pies, soft drinks and water on board, but none of them could eat, and some were seasick.
Te Kameta was able to sleep most of the night in the cabin, but described the ordeal as "freaky".
"It was pretty hard, but all we were thinking of was coming in for a shower and seeing our parents."
As day broke, the group could see land and Mr Mackie texted Mrs Toetoe again.
The message reached her at 6.02am yesterday, renewing the hopes of searchers and waiting whanau.
Rhys Hohepa, one of Henare's relations, sat high in the club's birdnest watching the sea and listening to the rescue radio.
A false alarm mid-morning, reporting a similar-sized boat found with nobody on board near Motiti Island, increased the tensions.
Mr Mackie's sister, Mihi Fraser, said: "There's nothing you can do but karakia [pray]."
On the sea, the conditions had eased, and those on the boat made a desperate attempt to reach shelter at Motiti, about 12km off the coast of Mt Maunganui.
They used makeshift paddles cobbled together from fishing gaffs, board and rope.
"We tried our hardest to get back to it. Everyone joined in, even the kids," Mr Mackie said.
They also attached colourful objects to the boat, hoping searchers would see them.
The searchers were becoming increasingly worried.
At 12.30pm, police search and rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Craig Madden told the Herald the missing group could be in dire condition if they were in the water.
Although the swell had calmed to 2.4m, the wind had picked up to 35km/h and two rescue helicopters, a fixed-wing plane and five coastguard vessels were still out looking.
Then, just after 1pm, came the news the group had been spotted about 5km west of Motiti.
The aircraft were doing a grid search determined by a Rescue Co-ordination Centre computer program used to plot drift patterns of boats.
The Tauranga TrustPower TECT rescue helicopter had already combed half the grid, returned to land to refuel, and was making a second sweep when crew member Rob Burgess spotted a boat.
The St John advanced paramedic said a red inflatable tube, which the group had only just attached to the boat, drew his attention.
"It was a great relief to see them all jumping up and down and waving. We were expecting them to be dehydrated, very seasick and hypothermic."
Pilot Liam Brettkelly said the search had covered a huge area of ocean and it had been very difficult to see anything.
Surf lifesaver Jason Carswell was on board and prepared to jump into the water if necessary, but a radio was dropped to the group, and by 1.20pm, they had confirmed they were all fit and well.
The Northland Electricity rescue helicopter had winching gear on board and lifted the three young people and Mr Mackie to safety while Mr Toetoe stayed with the boat.
Police relayed the good news to the whanau at Maketu, triggering a jubilant outbreak of hugs, tears and hands shooting into the air.
Mrs Toetoe said the wait had been difficult, but she had put her faith in her husband.
"It's a beautiful start to the New Year. I know that for him and Billy, the kids' safety would have been first. He [Mr Toetoe] has brought our babies home, he's brought our family home - they both did."
Sergeant Madden was also elated.
"To come across the vessel in our search area, everybody on board alive and well, it's just bloody awesome," he said at the Tauranga Coastguard headquarters.
Mr Mackie and the three young people were landed at Tauranga Airport and then re-united with whanau at the coastguard headquarters.
Mr Toetoe arrived soon afterwards with the boat.
