Scenes at Omanu

There was a shipping channel and shark sightings to contend with – yet the highlight of the day was undoubtedly the phenomenal beach welcome at Omanu Beach Surf Life Saving Club on the afternoon of Thursday, 5 February. 

Jono swam ashore to a crowded beach and loud applause with handshakes, selfie requests and curious questions from locals who had gathered.  

After a quick change into clothes, Jono answered Q&A with Jesse Tuke who MCed the community stopover event hosted by the Omanu Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Peter Burling, Live Ocean Co-Founder and Tauranga local, made it along too and shared his perspective on Jono’s huge effort. 

Another spike in signatures on the call for action resulted – currently sitting just over 9,580.  

Before the event Jono had already completed two swim legs – the second was a shorter timed run into Omanu Beach for the 4pm welcome.  

Setting out from Bowentown base camp in the morning, Jono started from his last marked waypoint swimming towards outside Matakana Island and across the busy Port of Tauranga shipping channel.  

Sail training vessel Spirit of New Zealand is in the region, and they swung by off Mount Maunganui to show their support for Jono and the Swim4TheOcean mission.  

Total distance covered: 518.21km 

Yesterday’s swims – at a glance 

Swim 1  

Started at 7:31am 

Time:  4 hours 20 mins 

Distance: 13.01km 

Average speed: 3km/h  

Swim 2  

Started at 2:25pm 

Time:  1 hours 56 mins 

Distance: 9.5km 

Average speed: 2.6km/h