A manta ray provided a rare but welcome sight for a number of people cruising around the Bay of Islands at the weekend.

You could be contributing to the mess on our beaches and not even know about it. Recently 90 parking tickets or car registration dockets were picked up by volunteers cleaning up Rangitoto island. We traced several of them back to their Auckland owners.

2.66 tonnes of trash was removed in the first Christmas coast clean-up in Auckland, worrying figures for those hoping to hit the beaches this summer.

John Gardner finds that to be really in the swim on a luxury superliner, you need to have an ample stock of cruise stories.

Authorities assisting with wildlife recovery are being inundated with oiled little blue penguins. It is the middle of breeding season for the nocturnal birds who get covered in the thick tar-like oil while crossing rocks to return to their burrows.

A Philippines-based seafarers association has accused "racist and extreme right" NZers...