Ocean Bay is an attractive small bay 19 km north of Rarangi on Port Underwood Road. It is just inside the entrance to Port Underwood, with a 600-metre long attractive sandy beach. There is a small number of houses and bachs around the bay.
There is no camping and very limited options for public parking off the narrow road above the beach. Once you have a park, it is easy to access the beach, which is quite private from the road. Because it is a bit tricky, there is unlikely to be a crowd. Take a picnic, have a swim and explore the rock pools.
As with other bays along this coast, there was a long history of Māori occupation. Te Rauparaha took over the bay in the late 1820s, and this was followed by two whaling stations. By the late 1830s, about 30 Europeans and 100 Māori were in the area, mostly occupied with whaling, as was most of Port Underwood at the time. The bay does have a Māori name, Ohienga, but this has yet to appear on the map.
Cruise Guide has an excellent short history of the bay if you are interested.
