A close encounter with three killer whales at Waiheke Island caused swimmers to freeze, scream - then quickly scramble out of the water.
Waiheke Island local Brett Thom said he had just arrived at the beach with his dog yesterday afternoon when he heard a scream from a woman on the beach, urging her kids to come in from the water.
Looking into the water, he said he saw two big fins.
A few children swimming in the bay seemed to freeze, Thom said, before apparently remembering they could swim.
But unwilling to swim right into shore with the orcas frolicking in the same waters, they headed to rocks in the bay and scrambled up out of the water.