Mikotai / North Island / New Zealand

This is strictly for experienced surfers as it is right along the edge of the breakwater for the port of New Plymouth. If you do have the required experience, you'll find a wave that is technically challenging and well worth a visit.

There isn't any beach at all here, you're going right off the harbour wall. You will never find anybody else out here, so make sure you know what you are doing and that you can be safe. Water temperatures here may reach about 20° C in summer, and about 14° C in winter.

The swell here starts working at about 2 m and holds up to 3 m or 3.5 m. It only works at low tide, with the wind from the south-east, east or north-east and the swell from the west or the south-west. It's a reef break, both right and left, and the waves are powerful if not especially fast. Length can be good here, with even an average day seeing up to 150 m.

You won't find any facilities at the spot itself, but you can be in the centre of New Plymouth within a couple of minutes and once there you can find everything you need. You should be able to enter the port area without too much bother, but if not you can work your way around to Paritutu Park and paddle in instead.

You get some strong currents around the seawall, and there are plenty of rocks and urchins to catch you out if you aren't concentrating. There are also a few sharks seen here, attracted by the warm water created by the powerstation outflow.