Half Moon Bay Marina, Auckland

Half Moon Bay Marina is a harbour for boats in east Auckland, New Zealand. It sits on the Tāmaki River, where the river meets the Hauraki Gulf, and more than 500 boats berth there. Floating walkways called pontoons run out into the water, so owners can step straight from the dock onto their yachts and launches.

The marina belongs to the suburb of Half Moon Bay, just south of Bucklands Beach. The area has a surprisingly fiery past. Part of the shoreline is a lava flow that formed about 10,000 years ago when a nearby volcano, Maungarei, erupted. In the middle of the suburb rises Ōhuiarangi / Pigeon Mountain, a 53-metre volcano that is part of the Auckland volcanic field.

A place shaped by volcanoes

Auckland is built on a field of small volcanoes, and Half Moon Bay has its share. Pigeon Mountain last erupted about 23,400 years ago. Much of it was dug away as a quarry between 1913 and the 1970s, which removed the entire north half of the volcano. The lava flow along the shore is younger, around 10,000 years old, and came from Maungarei, another Auckland volcano.

Māori history of the area

The land is part of the traditional territory of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, who descend from the crew of the Tainui canoe, which visited around the year 1300. The river mouth was called Te Wai ō Tāiki. People grew food in stone-walled gardens on the slopes of Pigeon Mountain and caught kererū, the New Zealand wood pigeon. A fortified village, called a pā, stood on the mountain.

On the globe

The model shows the marina behind its breakwater with pontoons and many moored boats. Zoom in to see the little boats.