Nearly 20 years on former navy diver Rob Hewitt reflects on 75 hours lost at sea

Former Navy diver Rob Hewitt, brother of former All Black Norm Hewitt, survived 75 hours lost at sea in 2006. Photo / RNZ

“It was arrogance and crossing that line of tikanga,” said former NZ Navy diver Rob Hewitt about getting lost at sea for 75 hours, and almost losing his life.

Nearly 20 years on he hopes by talking about his mistakes, he will save the lives of others. “My message is for whānau to come home safe,” he told the Herald on world drowning prevention day.

Hewitt (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Rangikoianaki) was confident in the water after two decades as a navy diver. The ocean was his workplace - he had recovered bodies, cleaned ships “and I was quite cocky”, he said.

Former All Black Norm Hewitt at Wellington Hospital with brother Rob, who survived 75 hours lost at sea in 2006. Image / TV3

How things went wrong

On the day he went missing he was diving with friends from Manawatū, kitted in his full navy dive gear – including a tether rope used to tie dive partners together – a weight belt, wet suit and fins.

“The skipper of the boat looked at me and said, ‘We don’t do that sort of stuff [tether together] here’,” Hewitt said.

“They were a little bit cowboyish and that challenged my integrity but I thought, ‘When in Rome, do what the Romans do’, so I put all I had learned as a navy diver aside.”

Sea survivor Rob Hewitt is promoting drowning prevention, hoping his experience will save lives.

The first dive didn’t go well - an early sign, he believes, of what was to come.

“We resurfaced and my dive partner had grabbed about five crayfish and said to me, ‘Didn’t you get anything?’

“I had a couple of kina. I said, ‘I thought you were getting the kai and I was saving your life because there was some dangerous stuff going on in the water’.”

Hewitt said that’s when he made the cardinal mistake and went down alone.

“I broke the golden rule and wanted to show off and show these fellas what I could do...I had a karakia when I was 8m deep and asked god for some crayfish and kina. I saw a cray and put it in my bag.

Rob Hewitt survived 75 hours at sea after "breaking the cardinal rule" and going down for a dive alone

“I went down another couple of metres and spied about 30 crays. I thought I would get the lot and plant the crays over my body, float up to the surface and show these fellas I am the man.

“It was that arrogance and crossing that line of tikanga and broke the rule of my grandfather – you only take enough for a feed.”

Hewitt said he moved into an underwater cave and a rip pushed him out the other side. When he resurfaced he was 600m from the boat, which was heading in the other direction picking up the other divers. The time was 4pm.

“I had no issue because this was my workplace. There was no panic,” he said.

Rob Hewitt talking water safety.

Hewitt started kicking towards the boat but after 15 minutes realised the current meant he was making no headway, and started feeling concerned about expending his energy.

He calculated the food he had consumed and the resources he had with him and decided to let the current take him.

He spotted a rescue helicopter and realised the dive crew had called a mayday.

“I thought, ‘Hey, I’m the navy diver. I should be the one doing the rescuing’.”

It was that arrogance and crossing that line of tikanga and broke the rule of my grandfather – you only take enough for a feed

Rob Hewitt

The mental game

As he waited in the ocean, Hewitt feared being judged. “I could imagine the headline: Former All Black Norm Hewitt’s brother, a navy diver, needed rescuing from the sea.”

He tried to use the reflection of his face mask to attract the rescue helicopter but it headed back to the airport.

“I thought my life was only worth 48 minutes of searching. I’m 38 years old, had spent 20 years in the navy, and that’s what I was worth.”

“About 8pm, I started to worry and thought, ‘Who do I know that’s survived out at sea floating in the water – no one’,” he said.

I did what anyone would do. I prayed for all my sins to be forgiven

Rob Hewitt

“I did what anyone would do. I prayed for all my sins to be forgiven because sometime during the night I think I’m going to die.”

Hewitt said self-pity soon turned to survival.

“I started playing little games, said karakia, recited my whakapapa to keep my mind active ... I connected to my Māoritanga, who I was as a New Zealander, as a Māori, to my wairua.”

The sun rose about 5.30am. Hewitt said his face was cutting up and he was being pushed out to Kāpiti Island.

He had four kina and spent an hour eating each one, killing four hours.

“I’m from Ngāti Kahungunu and eat the roe and eat the guts, but before I do, I look around to see if anyone is watching. I was worried about being judged.”

Hewitt said he always carried an inferiority complex from being in the navy and being the brother of an All Black.

He still had a crayfish and ate it in the evening over three hours, crying and aware it could be his final meal.

He noticed his tongue starting to swell, and fingernails coming away from his fingers – something he’d seen before while retrieving bodies from people who had drowned.

He was being bitten by sea lice. The third night came and Hewitt had all but given up on surviving.

The rescue that saved his life

Hewitt went missing around 1pm on February 5, 2006 and was rescued at 4.04pm on February 8 – after 75 hours lost at sea.

“I look up and see a little Zodiac and two of the navy divers ... I thought they were a hallucination. They said to me, ‘Bro, what are you doing’.

“I said, ‘Waiting for you fellas’.”

Rob Hewitt teaching young Kiwis about water safety.

Hewitt told the Herald his battle with Tangaroa (Māori God of the sea) and survival was never far from his thoughts.

He has written two books and a German film crew is working on a documentary.

New Zealand recorded 74 drowning fatalities in 2024 – the lowest since 2018.

Water Safety New Zealand says while the reduction is encouraging, many fatalities are preventable, involving not wearing life jackets, entering the water alone, and underestimating the conditions.

Friday marked world drowning prevention day. In New Zealand 21 people die annually while gathering kai (food) - that’s about 26% of all drowning fatalities. They are predominantly male, adult, and of Māori, Pasifika or Asian descent.

Joseph Los’e is an award-winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.