Two hours later, the John McGlashan College pupil was back, surprised at how quickly he completed his swim, which had just raised more than $1200 for the Cancer Society.
He did the 6km swim as part of the McGlashan Challenge, in which pupils set themselves a mental or physical challenge to raise funds for charity.
While not a competitive swimmer, he said he enjoyed challenging himself, and was ''very happy'' with his two-hour time, despite wind adding about about 1km to the most direct 5km route around the island.
He trained for four months, including four-hour non-stop swimming sessions in the pool. He had previously swum out to the island, although he had returned by boat.
He said he chose to raise money for the Cancer Society because his grandfather and great-uncle had died from cancer.
