Two boats have run aground on Mayor Island.

William Barnes was passing on Sunday afternoon when he saw the boats beached near each other.

"It was about 2pm," says William. "Omapu Bay I think, not 100 per cent sure."

He doesn't know how the boats came to have run aground.

"Not a clue. Trying to figure out how they managed it."

William posted the photo to the NZ Big Game Fishing Facebook group which has over 32,000 members, accompanying the photo with the caption "new dry dock at Mayor Island". Comments came thick and fast.

Some wondered if it was the Mayor Island boat works, or a new resort on the island for the summer. Another suggested it was people following Level 4 protocols with land based fishing only.

One of the commenters wrote that seven passengers were transferred by them to the coastguard boat on Sunday morning.

The photo was also shared to the Clevedon Game Fishing Club Facebook group where a member of the group identified the boats, writing that one went aground first, and the other had a broken anchor at 10pm on Saturday night. A commenter wrote that efforts had been made on Saturday night to pull the boats off the beach.

SunLive has contacted NZ Coastguard for more information.

At the scene? Phone 0800 SUNLIVE or email newsroom@thesun.co.nz