Waiotahi Spit is located in the Bay of Plenty approximately 8 km west of Opotiki. If travelling from Whakatane the turn-off is at the point when the road meets the beach.
Waiotahi Spit and Estuary is one of the natural gems of the Opotiki coastline and has the highest conservation ranking.
Students can learn about its rare combination of features: a sand spit, an estuary, river mouth flats, adjacent low hills, a pa site, an urupa, pohutukawa forest, several rare birds, important shellfish beds, mangroves, culturally valuable plants (pingao) and a fish breeding zone (whitebait and others).