Bay of Plenty and Coromandel coastline impacted by king tides

Large swells and king tides have impacted the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel coastline this morning.

Tauranga City Council closed Mauao's base track and Moturiki/Leisure Island earlier this morning but they have since reopened.

The same areas were closed on Sunday due to dangerous sea conditions.

Seaweed and driftwood from the high tide has been pushed all the way to the entrance steps of Mount main beach this morning.

A surf board gets airborne at Mount Maunganui Beach. Photo / George Novak

About 30 surfers are in the water in waves which surfer Liam Royal described as "pretty standard" for the Mount.

He said the waves weren't uncomfortable and he had been in stronger surf in Raglan.

The waves had "started off clean earlier this morning but were starting to get messier".

Royal said he did not go into the water on Sunday when the waves made headlines: "I'm not insane".

Monster waves hit Mount Maunganui beach. Photo / George Novak

Surf lifesaving head coach John Bryant said the high tide had created ruts in the beach and had gone on to Mauao base track.

There had been no comments about any bad behaviour or ill treatment of lifeguards today, he said, and the water at high tide this morning would have been fine and fun for experienced surfers.

Mount Maunganui lifeguards

copped verbal abuse from beachgoers

on Sunday when they were patrolling Leisure Island and the Mauao base track due to dangerous sea swells.

There would be one more high tide tonight at 7.58pm and was likely to reach the base track again, he said.

Bryant said someone should be on standby tonight and there should be an assessment this evening to see what the water was doing. No life guards were out this morning and he said it was because they were not asked.

MetService had issued a warning for possibly hazardous coastal conditions saying "heavy easterly swell continues to impact the coastline until Thursday".

Tides at Waihi Beach this morning. Photo / Cathy Wright

"Dangerous conditions are possible about the coast, especially around high tide."

Cathy Wright works at the Flat White Cafe in Waihi Beach and took a video showing the tide completely inundating the beach this morning.

"I've only seen it come up like that once before in the 14 years that I've worked at Flat White Cafe. It's very noisy too, people can hear the waves in Waihi town," she said.

Tides have brought up debris on to the road at Tairua this morning. Photo / Old Mill Cafe

High tides have also caused the inundation of low-lying roads in Tairua. The Old Mill Cafe Tairua posted photos of water and debris covering the road outside their premises.

A MetService communications spokeswoman said a low-pressure system to the left of the country has been driving a "significant easterly swell".

"We recorded 3.5m this morning in Tauranga but the low has moved away, conditions are easing and the swell should be on its way out."

Mount Maunganui surfers gather for a close-up look at the tides. Photo / George Novak

"The swell should ease throughout the day and into the weekend."

She said, according to NIWA's alerts, the king tides peaked today.

"There are strong king tides for the next three days and then easing from the weekend.

A surfer catches a wave at Mount Maunganui Beach. Photo / George Novak

"The most significant effects you'll see with that is at high tide time. For Tauranga, today's high tide was about 7.20am and then should be again about 8pm tonight."