Blueskin Bay is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

in coastal

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

, about 25 km north of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The name also unofficially describes the rural district which includes the northern slopes of

Mount Cargill Mount Cargill, known in Māori as ,Place names'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 4 January 2012 is a volcanic outcrop which dominates the skyline of northern Dunedin, New Zealand. The peak is named for Captain Willia ...

, the southern slopes of the

Kilmog The Kilmog, occasionally called Kilmog Hill and known in Māori as Kirimoko,Place names'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 is a hilly area approximately 20 kilometres north of Dunedin, New Zealand, on State Highwa ...

, and the townships of Doctors Point,

Waitati Waitati, from the Māori language, Māori Waitete, is a small seaside settlement in Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. It is located close to the tidal mudflats of Blueskin Bay, 19 kilometres north of the Dunedin city centre. ...

, Evansdale,

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, and

Seacliff Seacliff comprises a beach, an estate and a harbour. It lies east of North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. History The beach and estate command a strategic position at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, and control of the area has been conte ...

Place names

The tidal lagoon is known in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

as Waiputai.
Place names
'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 "Blueskin Bay" historically referred to a wider stretch of coast from Heyward Point to

, including

Pūrākaunui Pūrākaunui (formerly spelt Purakanui) is a small settlement in Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located within the bounds of the city of Dunedin, in a rural coastal area some to the north of the city centre. Pūrākaunui lie ...

.Ian Church ''Blueskin days'', Waitati 2007 The name ''Blueskin'' is after Kahuti, a resident

personality of the area, whom

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

settlers nicknamed "Blueskin" for the large amount of

Tā moko ' is the permanent marking or tattooing as customarily practised by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. It is one of the five main Polynesian tattoo styles (the other four are Marquesan, Samoan, Tahitian and Hawaiian). (tattooi ...

(traditional Māori

tattooing A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the Human skin, skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of ...

) on his body. The name had been used as the nickname of a notorious 18th-century London criminal, Joseph "Blueskin" Blake.

The estuary

The Waitati River and Careys Creek enter Blueskin Bay at its southwest and northwest corners. A long sand spit from the northern headland closes the bay to a small channel to the Pacific Ocean at the southeast corner. Rabbit Island lies just inside this entrance. Critically endangered, endemic Hector's dolphins live around the bay.

Shellfish

Blueskin Bay is a popular site for gathering

clams Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

, locally known as "cockles". Along with families collecting the shellfish for personal consumption, Southern Clams Ltd collects clams commercially for export.

References

External links

{{commons category, Blueskin Bay
Blueskin Bay community news website
Estuaries of New Zealand Landforms of Otago Bays of Otago Wetlands of Otago