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 environm ...

in coastal Otago, about 25 km north of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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

Mount Cargill Mount Cargill, known in Māori as Kapukataumahaka,Place names'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 is a volcanic outcrop which dominates the skyline of northern Dunedin, New Zealand. The peak is named for Captain ...

, 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 Highway ...

, and the townships of Doctors Point,

Waitati Waitati, from the 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. The small Waitati ...

, Evansdale,

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, 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 con ...

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 C ...

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 25 km to the north of the city centre. Pūrākaun ...

.Ian Church ''Blueskin days'', Waitati 2007 The name ''Blueskin'' is after Kahuti, a resident Maori personality of the area, whom Pakeha settlers nicknamed "Blueskin" for the large amount of

Tā moko ' is the permanent marking or " tattoo" as traditionally 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 Maori

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

) 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 The Waitati River is a river in New Zealand, flowing into the Pacific Ocean at Blueskin Bay, north of Dunedin. The Dunedin Northern Motorway follows the valley of the Waitati between the Leith Saddle and Waitati. See also *List of rivers of New ...

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 dolphin Hector's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus hectori'') is one of four dolphin species belonging to the genus '' Cephalorhynchus''. Hector's dolphin is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, and comprises two subspecies: ''C. h. hectori'', the more n ...

s live around the bay.

Shellfish

Blueskin Bay is a popular site for gathering

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

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

References

External links

Blueskin Bay community news website
{{coord, -45.73, 170.58, display=title Estuaries of New Zealand Landforms of Otago Bays of Otago Wetlands of Otago