[1] A more-or-less contiguous string of settlements make up Taipa-Mangonui, the largest urban area north of Kaitaia.

Kupe, the Māori discoverer of New Zealand, is said to have made his initial landfall at Taipa, in Doubtless Bay.

When Cook sailed past the entrance to the area, he recorded in his journal "doubtless a bay", hence the name.

[4] Less than two weeks later, Jean-François-Marie de Surville anchored his ship the Saint Jean Baptiste in the bay.

In retaliation for the theft of a longboat which had gone adrift after his ship had dragged her anchor in a storm and narrowly escaped destruction, he carried off a Māori chief and set his village on fire.