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A father of eight was last night presumed drowned as his family accused police of failing to put effort into searching for him.
Otara labourer, Palu Siua, 40, left Okoromai Bay on North Auckland's Whangaparaoa peninsula at 3am to catch seafood for his family - an almost daily tradition.
With cousin Robert Motuliki, Siua had laid a net around 9pm on Friday and the pair were returning to collect it when deteriorating weather turned them back to Gulf Harbour.
Motuliki told the Herald on Sunday last night that the 12-foot aluminium dinghy was swamped in huge waves about 300m from shore.
Motuliki already had his life jacket on but Siua was still adjusting his when the big waves struck. The waves were so big the two fishermen could barely keep sight of each other. Motuliki could only see Siua when he was at the trough of the wave and Siua was at the crest.
Yet they battled agonisingly close to shore, between Gulf Harbour and Shakespear Bay, when Motuliki last saw Siua.
They were just 10m from the coast but the shallow waters made the waves even bigger.
"The waves were coming back from the shore and hitting the ones coming in. But we were yelling a lot to each other and we thought we were safe."
Motuliki said the last words he heard from Siua were willing him to safety. "He just yelled at me to try to get to the shore fast. I saw him and he was alright."
Palu Siua's wife of 17 years, Tangielevatau, was last night watching from the shore where he went missing, looking for any sign of her missing husband. "Sad, we are just sad. Got to keep hoping," she said.
Last night police media advisers defended the decision to abort the search during the day for several hours. Spokesman Kevin Loughlin said "we are satisfied we have done everything possible".
Siua's relatives say most of the day they were confused about what search effort was being made - even calling the 111 emergency number because there was no answer at the Orewa police station.
Constable Simon Brown from Orewa police, said that Saturday was a busy day for the small station, and he was managing a "struggling crew". "We have to prioritise, and of course this is a priority, but we had a couple of traffic crashes, tagging and some domestics," Brown said.
Asked why there were no officers present when the Herald on Sunday arrived at the station at 4pm, he replied: "We are changing shifts."
The missing man's sister, Sini Siua, 22, said "he is a lovely brother, he really cares about his sisters and brothers."
Daughter Losa, 16, was yesterday busy comforting her siblings with warm hugs - together they paid tribute to their "wonderful dad" who moved to New Zealand in 1987 and who has nine siblings.
"He puts other people first, he would never say no. When people ask him to do things for parties like toast the pig, he would do it. He would catch seafood like flounder and kawai," Losa said.
She said her dad had recently started attending St Patrick's Catholic Presbytery, as a sign of respect to his brother Valu, who was due to graduate from a Fijian seminary. "He goes there for his bro but usually falls alseep," the teenager laughed.
She was awoken to a telephone call at 7am yesterday from her mother: "I got told my dad had been lost out at sea.
"He loved his fishing - rain, hail or shine, he would go out, sometimes every day."
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
