We're standing below sea level, and thin dribbles of Pacific Ocean are seeping through a series of rusty steel plates that have been locked together to form a dam.
Not far to our right, a pump is easily keeping pace with the influx so that workers can complete the construction of Tauranga's new tidal stairs in front of The Strand.
It hasn't always worked this well.
Not long ago, a section of the dam to our left was breached and the whole area filled with water within a couple of minutes.
But despite such challenges, HEB Construction project manager Dean Taylor said the stairs were 85 per cent finished and will be ready within a couple of weeks.
"The stairs have just fallen into place," he said. "It's gone well."
The Bay of Plenty Times was granted a rare glimpse inside the construction zone and supplied with overhead images shot by drone as the project nears completion.
Apart from the stairs, the $2.8-$3.2 million project includes a pier and pontoon that must be opened in time for the National Jazz Festival in mid-April.
Mr Taylor said the large blue containers that had dominated the waterfront during construction would be gone by the end of this week. The surrounding fences were likely to remain until early April.
Morgan Jones, a project manager for Tauranga City Council, said he expected the pontoon would be used by a variety of boats including some run by tourist businesses.
Also on site was deputy mayor Kelvin Clout, who said he was he was impressed by the scale and complexity of the project.
"You get the odd naysayer, but I'm confident the community will embrace this when it opens," he said.
Mr Clout said he hoped to be the first person to do a "bomb" off a viewing platform into the harbour once the facility opened.
It's possible that he was joking, but now the statement has been published he might have little choice.
Waterfront development
- 49 metres of tidal stairs - 27m pier - 24m x 3m floating pontoon