A group of Dive Otago students and instructors visited the Blue Lake in St Bathans in Central Otago earlier this month to help clean it up and for students to learn how to dive against debris. Dive Otago general manager Virginia Watson said they had not done a cleanup there for a while, so decided on the Blue Lake. A man-made water body, the lake is the result of sluicing operations that began in 1873 — turning a 120m-high hill into a 68m hole. It was abandoned in 1932 and natural drainage from the surrounding hills filled the hole to create the Blue Lake. Dive Otago students Gus Bixley (left) and Josh Fleming with some of the loot they secured from the Blue Lake in St Bathans.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 16, 2026 17:26 UTC