Ten whales stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay

Ten pilot whales have stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay.

Eight were still alive after becoming stranded on Tuesday, however they were in "pretty good health", Department of Conservation Golden Bay operations manager Ross Trotter said.

Efforts to refloat the remaining whales were getting under way with high tide to arrive at 5pm.

Trotter said rain had been keeping the eight remaining whales wet and cool, but the health of three of them had since deteriorated.

They received the report about 6.30pm on Tuesday about the stranding in an area known as Triangle Flat at the base of Farewell Spit.

Project Jonah and iwi were assisting DOC as they worked towards a possible refloat around 4.30pm prior to high tide at 5.15pm.

He said rescuers had not seen these whales at Farewell Spit previously. However, it was clear they had stranded in another location before.

"They are showing signs of having been sunburnt and have healed over, so possibly in the last few weeks they have been beached somewhere else."

While there were many theories about why strandings happened so often at Farewell Spit, the shape of the bay was a possible factor, he said.

A pod of pilot whales was refloated several times in December.

Not all of them survived.

Among those that did, some were seen in the area even after being refloated again.

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