[1][2] The reserve protects a piece of the Central Hawke's Bay District coastline, between Aramoana and Blackhead Beach, east of the main settlements on State Highway 2.

[1] When the platform is exposed at low tide, there are beds of Neptune's necklace, Coralline algae, patches of sea grass, and rockpools with fish and shellfish, including golden limpets.

Many migratory wading birds take advantage of the low tide to feed, including kingfishers, gulls, herons, various oystercatchers, pied stilts and flocks of eastern bar-tailed godwits.

[1] When Ngāti Kahungunu settled the Central Hawke's Bay, Porangahau's descendant Te Aomatarahi was given the lands east of the Tukituki River.

[4] In April 2011, heavy rainfall during a shallow magnitude 4.5 earthquake caused the full width of the rock platform to be inundated with 14 landslides, completely burying and sweeping away all lifeforms.

[3] In January 2012, six Hawke's Bay prisoners on temporary release and their two supervisors were caught illegally collecting pāua and kina from the marine reserve.

When encountering seals, dolphins or whales, the boat must be slowed to five knots, must stay 50 metres away, must not travel through the middle of a pod, must avoid making sudden course changes, and must not accelerate until they are well clear.