The man swam across the channel to Ōkiato, followed by police in an inflatable boat.
Photo: Supplied

A suspected boat burglar has been arrested after jumping into the tide and leading police on a slow-motion chase in the Bay of Islands.

Officers investigating overnight boat burglaries were alerted to a man acting suspiciously in a dinghy near Ōpua marina about 3pm Saturday, a police spokesperson said.

He refused to come ashore, instead rowing towards the ferry ramp then abandoning his dinghy and swimming towards Russell.

Officers, including a police dog, followed him in an inflatable boat.

The man, who was believed to have a knife, made it across the channel to Ōkiato.

He eventually accepted a life ring requisitioned from the Ōpua car ferry but still refused to come to shore, instead remaining in waist-deep water, the police spokesperson said.

He surrendered to police on board a Coastguard vessel just before 4pm.

The man was taken, cold and exhausted, to Kawakawa police station to be interviewed.

The police spokesperson said the man had missed his calling: “He should have been a marathon swimmer.”

It is not yet known what charges, if any, the man will face.