Immersive experiences play a powerful role in igniting passion for and inspiring interest in the marine environment.
The Seaweek 2025 programme included over 130 events, nearly a third of which were hands-on activities on the sea shore, on boats and assorted paddlecraft, or in and under the water. Below is a summary of a portion of these fantastic adventurous activities, which have built up participants’ excitement about learning more and taking action.
Ngāmotu Beach Community Snorkel - Taranaki, 1 March
A community snorkel day provided an opportunity to explore the local reef with Experiencing Marine Reserves snorkel guides! Participants saw fish, including red moki and spotties, jellies and sea stars. The event was funded by Water Safety NZ and supported by the Department of Conservation.
Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve Community Snorkel Day - Gisborne, 1 March
Over 100 people got to know the marine reserve at Pouawa during a special event held by He Awa Ora, He Tai Ora Trust in collaboration with the Department of Conservation. Guided snorkel sessions over the reef were complemented by opportunities to engage in learning more about the reserve, create artwork, build sandcastles on the shore and enjoy a free sausage sizzle. Funding was provided by Tairāwhiti Environment Centre via the Wai Connection project, and Water Safety NZ. Read more about it in the Gisborne Herald article.
Reotahi Bioblitz Event - Northland, 2 March
A snorkel and bioblitz session with Experiencing Marine Reserves was organised to capture images of marine life in Reotahi Bay using underwater cameras! The time in the water was followed by kai and a chance to ID the species and upload images to iNaturalist. This event was sponsored by Seaweek thanks to Foundation North and was part of the EMR event series 'Marine Mahi for Rangatahi' funded by Lotteries.
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Sea MERC Day - Auckland, 2 March
This annual Seaweek event, coordinated by Sir Peter Blake MERC, was an opportunity to share passion for the ocean and learn about sea life in the beautiful Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve! Ocean adventures included kayaking and giant stand up paddle boarding with MERC leaders and knee boarding with Surf Lifesaving Northern Region. Support for this event was from Foundation North through Seaweek. Read more about this event here.
Life at the Rocky Shore - Hawkes Bay, 4 March
Families explored the rocky shore near Spriggs Park in Ahuriri and learnt about the species they found with members of Hawke's Bay Regional Council.
Seaweek with Eastbay REAP – Bay of Plenty, 4-7 March
Eastbay REAP organised activities at Port Ohope Boat Ramp for ECE, Kōhanga and year 1 students, attracting over 500 participants over 3 days! Eastbay REAP is a responsive lifelong learning organisation that aims to foster environmental stewardship and stronger communities. Their annual Seaweek celebration included numerous passionate collaborators, including several new local groups, local artists and community members.
Music with Michal Lyttleton Kids Cruise – Christchurch, 7 March
Blackcat Cruises put together a special opportunity for kids to experience Lyttleton Harbour by boat and a sea-themed sing-along with Music with Michal! Two hour-long cruises around Lyttleton Harbour meant that 120 participants got to make the most of amazing weather and Michal’s vibrant, energetic show – plus, on the second cruise, they saw Hector’s Dolphins! This fun-filled, interactive kids’ cruise has been inspiring young minds with music, learning, and ocean magic for several years in a row - we love it being an annual feature in the Seaweek programme.
Bioluminescence Tours with Waikawa Dive Centre – Marlborough, 7-8 March
Incredible glowing sights awaited the adventurers braving the sea at night on Waikawa Dive Centre's bioluminescence tours! Those staying up past their bedtimes left invigorated by the magical blue water illuminated by millions of tiny planktonic organisms. What an amazing experience!
Walk on the Wild Side - Estuary Edge Walk – Christchurch, 8 March
Attendees enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon walk from the Redcliffs School to Sumner ice cream shop with Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, Coastal Pathway Group, and Christchurch EnviroHub. There were opportunities to watch seabirds swoop and dive over the estuary and ask plenty of questions from the two speakers, who are dedicated activists for the estuary and its wildlife.
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Blockhouse Bay Beach Biodiversity Hunt - Auckland, 9 March
This Whau River Catchment Trust event was an opportunity for participants to survey Manukau harbour’s biodiversity using Marine Metre Squared equipment! Participants found a wide range of species, including tunnelling mud crabs, cockles, wedge shells, snapping shrimp, mudflat anemones, estuarine limpets and mudflat whelks.
Discover Takapuna Reef - Auckland, 9 March
Experiencing Marine Reserves, EMR, and Sir Peter Blake MERC joined forces once again to bring the community together for a day of snorkeling and paddle boarding activities along with a beach clean with the University of Auckland Marine Science Society, UMSS. It was a beautiful day to close out the major Seaweek events in the area with hundreds taking part to try new things and learn about local marine life! Thank you to Foundation North for funding through Seaweek.
Ocean Adventure Cruise – Marlborough, 9 March
Conservation Kids NZ want to ensure every child in Marlborough gets a chance to experience our amazing marine environment! This Adventure Cruise, organised by Envirohub Marlborough, provided a unique opportunity for twenty-five nominated tamariki aged 5-12 years, plus one accompanying adult, to enjoy their first boating experience on the Marlborough Sounds at no cost!
The cruise took participants around the stunning inner sounds en route to Lochmara to enjoy the conservation walk, the underwater observatory, kayaking and swimming. This event was sponsored by Lochmara Lodge and supported by Seaweek through Rātā Foundation.
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Exploring Nature at Momorangi Bay - Marlborough, 16 March
This free family fun day with Environhub Marlborough provided over 250 attendees with an opportunity to explore the four main habitats of Momorangi Bay; the Awa, Moana, Ngahere and Tātahi. This event was held in collaboration with Te Ātiawa and Waikawa Dive Centre. Waikawa Dive lent out wetsuits, bathyscopes, offered sea biscuit rides and a chance to see marine life through a microscope! The successful day was supported by dedicated volunteers and sponsorship by Port Marlborough and Seaweek, through Rātā Foundation.
Rotokura (Cable Bay) Community Guided Snorkel Day – Nelson, 23 March
Tasman Bay Guardians had an extremely successful snorkel day at Rotokura, where their team of 21 staff and volunteers guided over 100 participants to view marine life up close and personal! Attendees got to see an extraordinary amount of biodiversity, thanks to having this snorkeling event right outside a marine reserve. Almost half of the participants who attended had never snorkelled before, but had such a great experience they are "already looking forward to the next one." They saw a huge variety of fish plus sea stars, seahorses, squid, octopus, and sea hares!
EMR Coordinator and Educator, Thalassa Kawachi, says, “hearing comments from participants who said ‘I'm going to bring my friend next time’ or ‘I'm going to buy some snorkel gear,’ it was these moments where I feel a passion was initiated through their experience. This connection to te taiao now has lots of potential to bloom into conservation and protection."
The event was hosted by Tasman Bay Guardians and Experiencing Marine Reserves with support from Ngāti Tama ki Te Waipounamu Trust and Project Jonah New Zealand. It was made possible thanks to sponsorship from Port Nelson, Department of Conservation, Ministry for the Environment (Wai Connection project) and Seaweek through Rātā Foundation.
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School Field Trips (multiple locations)
In addition to these public events, several schools and early childhood education centres participated in Seaweek with a huge range of hands-on activities in their local areas. Here's just a few we heard a little bit about:
North Island
Waiheke Marine Education Initiative, coordinated by Waiheke Resources Trust, coordinated hands-on activities for tamariki and rangatahi to learn about our oceans. The program is supported by Waiheke Local Board and included guided snorkelling at Enclosure Bay with EMR.
Team 4 at Mt. Eden Normal Primary School went out on a boat up to Riverhead with John Charteris, who helped the students to learn more about marine life in the Hauraki Gulf. They practiced identifying plankton, discussed the effects of climate change/pollution on seabirds and looked for fish and other marine life under the jetty!
Pohutukawa Kids Early Childhood Service in Gisborne went on a trip to Kaiti Beach as part of Seaweek. The tamariki searched along the shoreline for Tangaroa's treasures, discovering shells, seaweed, building sandcastles, and exploring the rock pools.
The Bay Conservation Alliance provided snorkelling lessons to two schools at the Dave Hume pool in Katikati! Over 100 students learnt how to snorkel and completed a fish survey with local fish pictures that they studied in a prior lesson. While the groups were in the water, the other students walked to the Western Bay Museum to see the Crazy Crustaceans exhibit.
South Island
Mana Whaitaki, a day dedicated to facilitating student exploration of the marine environment, is organised annually during Seaweek by Tasman Bay Guardians. Over 50 enthusiastic students from Neslon and Tasman rotated through a variety of activities led by local experts. From learning about fish anatomy through dissection, exploring beach treasures from the Nelson Museum, and learning how to size shellfish and fish - so many practical skills were learned! There was also a marine mammal rescue simulation, learning about the ecology of Back Beach and the Back Beach beetle - a local critically endangered endemic species, the resurgence of horse mussel beds and so much more!
Greymouth High School year 10 Junior Conservation Rangers explored the marine reserves at Punakaiki (blowholes and MacMillans beach) and helped CVNZ (Conservation Volunteers New Zealand) with some native tree planting to create a bit more diversity in vegetation and cover as a corridor for the tāiko, Westland petrels.
Fox Glacier, Franz Josef Glacier, Whataroa and South Westland Area School juniors went to Ōkārito Lagoon to learn about marine marvels on the mudflats, pebble banks, and more through science and games. They were supported by amazing DOC staff, teachers and parents who all got involved and helped run the activities. They discovered jellyies, crabs, snails, seaweeds, birds, elvers, and beach curios.
Haast School did a Sustainable Coastlines Litter Audit and worked with Damian from Enviro Schools to think about the impact of fashion.
