New moon - entrance to Tauranga Harbour

Beautiful night and a new moon at the entrance to Tauranga Harbour, with the navigation lights just showing.

Tauranga hasn't had a great time lately, as a container ship grounded on a reef - where it shouldn't have been - and has caused pollution, of both oil and cargo container contents all along these wonderful pristine beaches. Oiled wild life has also been coming ashore, along with all manner of goods.

Small islands in the bay have also been affected, and as the people who live on them rely on the sea for food, this has been a terrible happening for them as the seafood will be affected for years to come, and unsafe to eat.

Local people have come in numbers to help clean their beaches, and although people are using the beach again, it isn't the beach it was. The ship is still out there, close enough to be seen from the shore, and work is still going on although the ship has broken in two, to retrieve the last of the containers.

The containers float and are of course a hazard to shipping.