Mermaid Pool Matapouri (C9)

Mermaid Pool of Matapouri Beach, Tutukaka Coast, New Zealand.

The Mermaid Pool is now closed!

Social media led thousands of people to visit the small pool, creating environmental havoc.  Thankfully, the local Maori Iwi has shut down access to the pool, hopefully allowing the social media tidal wave to pass, and the pool to recover from its 15 minutes of fame.

Click this link for news article:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/110613389/matapouri-mermaid-pools-closes-indefinitely-due-tourists-rubbish .

Back when I first wrote about this pool in 2013, after a landslide had closed-off the age-old route under a rock overhang…but then locals re-established a route over the nearby hilltop….well, back then nobody visited the pool hardly.  Perhaps a few people on any weekday low tide.  Then social media got ahold of this place…and trashed it.  Hundreds of people would show up every low tide.  The Mermaid Pool became the instagram “it girl”…the must see “hidden” spot.  Alas.  I’m glad the Maori people have taken a stand against the tidal wave social media celebrity.  The Mermaid Pool was never so special or deserving of the acclaim it somehow was accorded.  The Far North is brimming with hidden wonder spots, many of which I detail in NZ Frenzy.  But most travelers these days don’t use guidebooks, but rather only social media and internet info.  They killed Mermaid Pool by not knowing anywhere else to go.  Kinda sad.

Matapouri Beach with the Mermaid Pool headland in the distance

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Looking south along Matapouri Beach.

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The final cove at the north end of Matapouri Beach…where the Mermaid Pool track begins.

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The steep user-path to the Mermaid Pool.

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Palm jungle along the Mermaid Pool path.

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Looking back from the Mermaid Pool path to the beach cove.

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First sight of the Matapouri Mermaid Pool.

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Low tide waves crash against the rocks which cradle the Mermaid Pool.

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Diving in!

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Mer-man