Kaiti Beach - Windsurf Channel

Kaitia Beach is one of the most historic beaches in New Zealand. It is the first landing site of the Horouta waka, which brought the ancestors of tangata whenua, and James Cook, the first European to land on New Zealand. A WWII gun emplacement sits on the Titirangi Reserve behind the beach. Other features of the reserve are nature walking trails and summit tracks and four look points.

The most popular activity at this part of the beach is water-skiing, slaloming and wavesailing. A concrete boat ramp provides easy access, across this pebbly beach, to Poverty Bay.

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Water Quality

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Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample. The Swim Guide - New Zealand updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available.

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The Gisborne District Council monitors water quality at popular swimming beaches throughout the Gisborne 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