Sea Caves, Piha

Location: Piha, Auckland

Date: 30th March 2025

Author: Charlotte Layzell

Organiser: Yen-Kai Chen

Prior to running this trip, YK visited this site on his own, and sent through some pictures of little blue penguins (kororā) that he spotted in the cave. The prospect of seeing kororā was

definitely a selling point for this cave trip! Who doesn’t love a cave creature sighting?

So on the 30th of March the trip went ahead. Only a small group attended this trip, as to not disturb potential penguins in the cave.

We arrived at Piha Beach and met in the car park before walking towards the cave area on the south side of the beach.

On the beach we walked past the Taitomo Rock, the Blue Pool, and hiked along a track nearKaiwhare point. After the short bush hike, we had to swim through a body of very murky and cold water to access the southern part of the beach. At this point I regretted not wearing a wetsuit.

After the cold swim, we reached a secluded section of the beach with sandy shores! And caves! We saw some Pied Shag birds enjoying the beach, and some pigeons nestled in the rock shelves on the cliff faces.

This bay had about 6-8 small caves to explore. The caves had very high ceilings, and were not particularly deep (compared to non-coastal caves). The base of the floors was covered in sand, with unchanging elevation as we explored each 20-30 metre long cavern. When we exited each cave, we saw the sunlight shining through the cave entrance.

We didn’t end up seeing any penguins, but we did see some eggshells / nests.

After we explored all the caves, we swam back through the murky pond to head back to the main beach. We spent some time chilling in The Blue Pool before concluding the trip.

Overall this was a wonderful short day trip! These secret caves on the beach truly were a hidden gem, and I definitely recommend visiting this spot (with a wetsuit!).