Dangerous Entrance
The reef, much of which is exposed even at high tide, is located to the west of the two-kilometre-wide channel that links Cook Strait with Wellington Harbour, close to the shore of the Miramar Peninsula. Due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, the currents are strong and fickle and gales are common. Add to this the volume of traffic which uses the channel (including several crossings daily of the inter-island ferries to Picton), and it is not surprising that the reef has a lengthy roll-call of shipwrecks.
Read more about this topic: Barrett Reef
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