KEY POINTS:
About 1110 commuters were late home or unable to travel after their ferries from downtown Auckland were cancelled last night.
Fullers operations manager Ian Greenslade said the first boat to be turned back was the 4.15pm ferry heading to Half Moon Bay, carrying 39 passengers.
Fullers then decided to cancel the rest of the sailings to the bay, affecting about 345 more passengers.
The company provided buses and taxis for the passengers.
Then five sailings for Waiheke Island were cancelled, the first at 5pm, affecting about 725 people.
Mr Greenslade was to decide at 5am today when the sailings would resume.
The Birkenhead Wharf also closed about 5pm and seven ferries from downtown were re-directed to Northcote Pt. A bus service took passengers from there to Birkenhead.
Mr Greenslade said passengers heading for Waiheke Island who could not find accommodation in Auckland were welcome to sleep on the ferries.
"You should have heard the praise we got when we announced we were keeping the bar on the ferry open."
About 15 people heading to Waiheke slept aboard while others stayed at one of two hotels in downtown Auckland, at discounted prices courtesy of the company.
Ferries were also cancelled because of bad weather about the same time last year.
The Devonport ferry was the only boat operating from downtown Auckland last night.
Waiheke resident Nobilangelo Ceramalus caught the last ferry from downtown Auckland before the sailings were cancelled.
"It was like a roller-coaster ride. It was quite exciting."
Passengers the Herald spoke to at the downtown ferry terminal were resigned to their plight.
Waiheke resident Dawn Craib has commuted for 23 years to downtown on her way to work in Takapuna and said that never before had a ferry been cancelled on her.
"The ferry even sailed through Cyclone Bola in 1988 and that was much worse weather than this."
Ms Craib said that if necessary she would stay at her daughter's house in Papatoetoe but would be taking today off work.
"They can't expect someone to work in clothes they've been wearing for 48 hours. Plus all my make-up's at home."
Donna Smith was also heading to her home on Waiheke after staying with friends in Ngaruawahia.
They had driven her north and "luckily I needed help with my luggage so they came in, otherwise they would have left me here. We may have to stay with family in Auckland."
