38 minutes ago
Passengers on a ferry sailing from Aotea/Great Barrier Island could only watch as the vessel's two main life rafts snapped from their ropes and floated away in choppy seas on Sunday.
Auckland resident Bruce Hopkins was on board the afternoon voyage to Auckland after visiting a friend on the island, and said the usual four-hour trip took six hours.
He estimated the swells were up to two metres and there were up to 30 passengers on the car ferry.
"I've been on boats when you're just smacking into the waves, the end of the swells, and you feel the whole boat just shakes and that was happening," he said.
