Boat Ramps in Coromandel, New Zealand

[Azza]

Can any locals/regular visitors to the Coromandel give me any information on boat ramps that can be used by a car...specifically on the east coast?

I was looking at taking my boat down to Hahei for a couple of weeks over xmas but when I was there this weekend I realised the boat ramp is actually really soft sand!
I asked the local dive shop if there is anyone with a tractor that would put my boat in and out for me for a few $$ and they said no....and hopefully never will be. Nice bloke.(although I don't think he quite meant it like that)

Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Azza

PS. Post number 1000!!!!!!! woooohooo. Finally

 

[Packhorse]

Whangamata is a "sand ramp" plus it costs $5 to park your car and trailer there.
Pauanui has a good ramp. Whitianga should have a half decent ramp.
Were you diving there this weekend?

 

[Azza]

Whangamata is a "sand ramp" plus it costs $5 to park your car and trailer there.
Pauanui has a good ramp. Whitianga should have a half decent ramp.
Were you diving there this weekend?

So basically we have a choice of Pauanui or Whitianga?

No we didn't dive. Just woke up Saturday morning and decided to head away for the weekend. I wanted to recce hahei for xmas as it had been a number of years since I had been there.

 

[Packhorse]

I hear Cooks beach may have a concrete ramp. Its about 3-4 Nmiles from Hahei. But then Whitiangi is only 5-6 NM. We are heading down to Pauanui on sunday for a dive along the coast or maybe Aldermans weather dependant.

 

[Packhorse]

Well I can confirm the ramp in the estuary at the southern end of Cooks beach is a good concrete ramp. The estuary is shallow but im sure you will not have a problem. We came back in 2 hours after low tide and it was fine.
There is some really nice diving to be done in the area. Our first dive was on the southern side of the marine reserve in 25 meters of water. Next we went out to Castle rock. This sits in 70 meters of water and seems to be sheer walls going strait down. We thumbed the dive there due to high current. Back to the coast for another dive just north of Hot water beach and a final dive in a very large cavern a Km or so further north. This was a very cool dive. 15 meters deep and the roof of the cavern is another 15 meters or so high. You can take your boat right in there. There is a very large cray nursery and a few eels in there.
We came home with 8 crays and 2 spanish lobsters. The whole area is covered in cray pots.
We did get a blow out with a trailer tyre on the way home but luckly just caught the guys at the BP workshop in Tairua and managed to get a new tyre. Next week im of to find a spare.
Cant wait to get back down there.