Armers Beach at Fyffe Quay

Set further along the same road, but somewhat more modest than the larger Gooch's Beach, Armer’s Beach (also called Jimmy Armers Break by the surf community) lies just before a fur seal colony on the tip of the Kaikoura township peninsula. The seal colony is a tourist favourite, but please take care not to interact too closely with the seals either in the water or on land, as they have been known to bite in defence of their pups. Parking and dressing sheds are on site.

Sandy beach on the north side of Kaikoura Peninsula, just out of Kaikoura Township.In the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake the sea bed rose and has made the beach great for swimming. There is a car parking area and changing and toilet facilities on the shore above the beach. Monitored weekly between November-March by Environment Canterbury.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is essential right now. Follow the advice of the health experts. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Heading to the beach should only be considered an option if social distancing practices can be followed. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter the efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization public resource on COVID-19.

Water Quality

Failed to meet water quality standards
Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on February 21st, 2021. Swim Guide NZ updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on February 21st, 2021 at 7:28 PM.

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Environment Canterbury Regional Council monitors water quality at popular swimming beaches throughout the Canterbury region.

Water quality data on Swim Guide is sourced from the LAWA Can I Swim Here? website. www.lawa.org.nz/swim

At this site, water is regularly tested for levels of Enterococci during the summer months. This faecal indicator bacteria is used to indicate the level of harmful pathogens in the water.

See information on recreational water quality monitoring in New Zealand in this LAWA factsheet: https://www.lawa.org.nz/learn/factsheets/coastal-and-freshwater-recreation-monitoring/

Beach sites are shown as a GREEN swim icon if the latest Enterococci test result was in the range of 0 - 280 Enterococci / 100 mL.

Beach sites are shown as a RED swim icon if the latest test result exceeded 280 Enterococci / 100 mL or frequently exceeds the standard or there is a temporary water quality issue outside the routine testing programme (e.g. sewage overflow).

See information on the standards for recreational water quality monitoring in New Zealand in the 'What do the swim icons mean?' LAWA factsheet.

LAWA recommends for all sites, to avoid swimming for 2 - 3 days after significant rain, even for sites that normally have good water quality.

A good rule of thumb is to check that you can see your toes in knee deep water.

See www.lawa.org.nz/swim for up to date information on current warnings and alerts, weather conditions, tides, real-time water temperatures, what facilities are available, the monitoring history at this site and helpful factsheets.

Water Quality Graph