Pouawa Beach Reviews and Ratings

“Pouawa doesn't see very many surfers. The 15 minute drive here from Gisborne passes right by the famous breaks of Wainui and Makorori, so few bother coming this far, or if they are heading up the coast this far it is usually to get to some place like Tolaga Bay to get a better wind angle.

It's a pristine and totally unspoiled beach, backed by dunes, and actually not a bad place to surf. It is marginally more sheltered from the NE breeze that blows out most north Gisborne breaks on hot summer afternoons. In truth those are the only conditions when I have surfed it, so quite possibly when there is a NW offshore wind and/or a solid swell, it will have a very different (better?) character. When that happens it's so good at the breaks nearer town I just don't get this far. I really must make the effort one day.

Based on several small-swell summer visits with a cross-off NE wind, it seems that it is best at low-tide when it offers are relatively soft right-hander breaking on a sandbar in front of the Powawa stream. Lefts and rights to the south of here tend to be bigger and heavier but are more wind affected and seem prone to closing out.

There are good spots to park up overnight and permitted freedom camping in summer along the south end of the bay. There is even a new public toilet. From Pouawa stream and north for about 5km is a marine reserve with a total fishing ban. As a result, this is the best snorkelling for miles around with heaps of young cray, abundant reef and school fish, octopus and stingrays. When the swell is tiny and the wind has been NW for a couple days the water clears up nicely. Walk around the headland north and explore the marine reserve for another beach that is surfed even less often than Pouawa about a mile away. Take water.”

Rob Davies from NEW ZEALAND - 06 Jan 2011