Back in July 2014, Explore NZ announced that they would be operating a competing ferry service from Auckland to Waiheke Island. This was very welcome news to Waiheke residents and visitors alike, especially since Fullers was right in the middle of a winter full of breakdowns and other issues with their ferries.
Explore started out with two boats, D5 and Centurion. Centurion was soon replaced by the brand new D6 in December 2014 and Explore now had two large, fast ferries operating between Waiheke and Auckland. In November 2015 Explore added D7 to their fleet, a slightly smaller boat built in Australia.
In April 2016, Explore announced that they would be discontinuing the service from May 8th. This came as a bit of a surprise for many people, but it was known that Auckland Transport had been making things difficult for Explore by not allowing them to use the covered Pier 2.
The Explore boats have been sitting over in Westhaven for the past few weeks, and Fullers have been using D7 on the Gulf Harbour service.
Explore started out with two boats, D5 and Centurion. Centurion was soon replaced by the brand new D6 in December 2014 and Explore now had two large, fast ferries operating between Waiheke and Auckland. In November 2015 Explore added D7 to their fleet, a slightly smaller boat built in Australia.
In April 2016, Explore announced that they would be discontinuing the service from May 8th. This came as a bit of a surprise for many people, but it was known that Auckland Transport had been making things difficult for Explore by not allowing them to use the covered Pier 2.
The Explore boats have been sitting over in Westhaven for the past few weeks, and Fullers have been using D7 on the Gulf Harbour service.