Island Bay Marine Education Centre

Island Bay Marine Education Centre We invite you to join us to begin your own journey of discovery into New Zealand's largest, most important, and least known habitat - our ocean.
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The Island Bay Marine Education Centre's "Bait House Aquarium" and "Octopus Headquarters" are located on Wellington's South Coast in Island Bay right in the middle of Taputeranga Marine Reserve. The Bait House is nestled right amongst the rocks on the shore and waves lap against the side of the building.

Eva visited the Bait House on our Open Sunday and this is what she saw.Thank you for the fantastic photos Eva.
14/06/2026

Eva visited the Bait House on our Open Sunday and this is what she saw.
Thank you for the fantastic photos Eva.

Are you out of bed yet??Better hurry. You know it takes you at least an hour to figure out where you’ve left your clothe...
13/06/2026

Are you out of bed yet??

Better hurry.

You know it takes you at least an hour to figure out where you’ve left your clothes after you threw them off last night. You’ll have to put on your outside clothes. And underwear. And real shoes. Not your fluffies.

REMEMBER TO PUT CLOTHES ON. You know what happened last time you forgot that very important step. You don’t want to end up down at the Police Station again, do you?

The weather’s looking stunning so you can’t wear your fav hoodie. You can probably hide those week old pizza fallout stains with some strategic scarf work. And for goodness sake change out of those disgusting trackies you’ve been wearing for the last month. They’re beginning to turn into a health hazard. No time for brekkie – you’ve got you’ve got to get here FAST and go away at 3 o’clock. You’ll need a nap by then.

Sheriff Steven Seagull and his posse are patrolling on the roof of the Bait House. They’ll be keeping a watchful eye on YOU. You know why. Some of the Sheriff’s posse are so dedicated they haven’t even stopped for a toilet break. Nothing that a good hosing down won’t fix.

Go for a walk to Red Rocks to check out the Seals. You’ll smell them before you see them. Don’t get too close. They look cute but they’ve got ATTITUDE. Especially if you get between them and their getaway path to the sea.

The Bait House closes at 3 o’clock so you’d better get a move on.

Tomorrow’s Sunday. That means BAIT HOUSE DAY.Come and visit our Carpet Shark. She’s stunning. And she’s laid LOTS of egg...
13/06/2026

Tomorrow’s Sunday. That means BAIT HOUSE DAY.

Come and visit our Carpet Shark. She’s stunning. And she’s laid LOTS of eggs.

The Carpet Shark is a member of the Cat Shark family which includes about a dozen species, some of them recently discovered and not yet described by Scientists.

The Carpet Shark is one of the few species found in shallow coastal waters. The rest of them usually live deeper than 200 metres.

The Carpet Shark is one of the few fish that has eyelids. And one of the few Shark species that lay eggs. Most Sharks give birth to live baby Sharks.

They’re called Carpet Sharks because they lie around on the bottom of the sea and don’t move much and because the markings on their skin look a bit like patterns on a carpet.

They lay eggs in see through packets with stretchy strings on either end to attach them to seaweed. You may have seen them washed up on the beach and wondered what they are. Some people call the egg cases Mermaid’s Purses.

Being a female Carpet Shark doesn’t come without disadvantages.

One disadvantage is male Carpet Sharks have TWO pen*ses. SHARP pen*ses. They're called claspers. Female Carpet Sharks have thick skin. That’s because male Carpet Sharks bite their love interest and flip them over before inserting their pen*s(s). Often female Carpet Sharks have bad bite marks inflicted during an encounter with a male Carpet Shark.

Another disadvantage is…………heck – that disadvantage is enough for now. More later……. Much later.

Come and visit any time between 10am and 3pm. Our friendly, welcoming, knowledgeable Volunteers will do their best to make sure you have a visit worth remembering.

A Good News Story.Several weeks ago, we received a message from Georgia. She said she was the Co-president for Society f...
10/06/2026

A Good News Story.

Several weeks ago, we received a message from Georgia. She said she was the Co-president for Society for Conservation Biology Wellington Chapter, a conservation club at Victoria University of Wellington. She said they were putting on a Quiz Night and wanted to donate the funds raised to US.

We were so proud to be chosen to be a beneficiary of their generosity.

Then the Quiz Night was postponed because of the terrible storm that devastated a lot of Wellingtonians. So, we forgot all about it.

UNTIL this morning. Then we discovered $318.48 had been deposited in our Donation Account!!!!!!!!!

It means such a lot to us that they thought we were worth fundraising for.

We’re a tiny Charitable Trust and operate on a very tight budget, so, although $318.48 might not mean much to a lot of people, to us it means that we can pay our phone bill this month.

Like many enterprises on the South Coast, we’ve been affected very badly by the Craptastrophe at Moa Point, the various storms and the work being carried out for ten weeks on Octopus Headquarters by the Council meaning that we’ve had to cancel many booking.

$318.48 is a LOT to us.

Thank you so much VUW Society for Conservation Biology.

After the storm………As we predicted, the Bait House came through unscathed. It’s weathered much more serious storms and ha...
10/06/2026

After the storm………

As we predicted, the Bait House came through unscathed. It’s weathered much more serious storms and has always come through safe and sound.

The only evidence of the storm is that our Open Sunday sign has been knocked over and a rock has been placed on our crab welcoming door step.

The floor inside’s as dry as a bone.

The only evidence of the storm is the murky water inside our aquaria. But that’s because Sam Chan put our seawater on recirculation and it gets full of tiny air bubbles.

We’re happy that we asked Naenae Primary School to postpone their visits today and tomorrow though. Not because we thought the Bait House would be out of action. We postponed because we thought the roads might still be closed and most importantly, we didn’t want to risk poos and wees being flung into the kids’ little faces.

We’ve always been a lot more concerned about the impact of the Craptastrophe at Moa Point than anything Mother Nature can chuck at us.

We don’t blame Mayor Andrew for calling a State of Emergency. That dude’s a hero. Where else in the World would a Mayor volunteer to become a Human Petri Dish by swimming in the middle of a poonami.

If he hadn’t called a State of Emergency and someone had been hurt, we’d be the first to moan about it.

Times have changed and a different type of people are living on the coast than in the good ol’ days. A lot of them need help dealing with storms. They’ve just been through a major storm when their houses, cars and possessions were destroyed.

Peace of mind is a very valuable resource and that’s what Mayor Andrew gave everyone.

Photo taken by the fantastic Photographer Phil Greig.Phil said:“Wellywood is getting hammered today. Taken at Island Bay...
09/06/2026

Photo taken by the fantastic Photographer Phil Greig.

Phil said:
“Wellywood is getting hammered today. Taken at Island Bay just before high tide at 11am.”

Thank you for sharing your artistry Phil.

Wanna see a REAL storm?This is how we made storms in the good ol’ days.
09/06/2026

Wanna see a REAL storm?

This is how we made storms in the good ol’ days.

Update from community member with a bird’s eye view of the Bait House.Things seem to be easing.Thank you for the photo H...
09/06/2026

Update from community member with a bird’s eye view of the Bait House.

Things seem to be easing.

Thank you for the photo Helen.

All the groups from Naenae Primary School that we had to cancel have rescheduled. So, lots of happy kids again.

It’s too early to say yet, but perhaps we’ve dodged a bullet.

Here’s a photo our Roving Reporter friend, Eva Kaprinay, took earlier this morning. Road closed.So far, so good for the ...
08/06/2026

Here’s a photo our Roving Reporter friend, Eva Kaprinay, took earlier this morning. Road closed.

So far, so good for the Bait House.

Lots of disappointed kids from Naenae Primary School because we’ve had to cancel their visits on Wednesday and Thursday.

Even if the Bait House comes through unscathed (fins crossed) the road closures and predicted dangerous conditions mean that it’s not a good idea to bring busloads of excited kids to the coast.

Note the flash new paint job on Octopus Headquarters.

Hope our stoic little Bait House makes it through the forecast 8 to 9 metre wave surge tomorrow. It's stood there staunc...
08/06/2026

Hope our stoic little Bait House makes it through the forecast 8 to 9 metre wave surge tomorrow. It's stood there staunch and strong since 1949, so we're very optimistic.

Fins crossed.

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P. O. Box1 Wellington South
Auckland
2000

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