Police today confirmed the identities of the five people killed in the Kaikōura boat tragedy on Saturday.
Many tributes have been paid to the victims since the fishing charter vessel collided with a whale and capsized on Saturday.
This afternoon police released a list of names of those who lost their lives.
They are Catherine Margaret Haddock, 65, of Lower Hutt, Susan Jane Cade, 63, of Lower Hutt, Diana Ruby Stewart, 68, of Christchurch, Peter Charles Hockley, 76, of Christchurch, Maureen Patricia Pierre, 75, of Christchurch.
They were all part of The Nature Photography Society of New Zealand group who had chartered a bird watching tour off the Kaikōura coast.
Catherine Haddock's husband Peter Simpson remembers his wife of 30 years as having "a loving nature, which in my view could never be equalled".
"She was very much an outdoors person who was trained as a teacher in special education."
Peter says she moved into outdoor education teaching with school programmes, before moving on to help the Ministry of Education develop safety guidelines for education outside the classroom.
Cathye Haddock finished working earlier this year and was on her first bird watching boat trip. (Source: 1News)
"She was very friendly, she had lots of friends and there are people now coming out of the woodwork I didn’t know existed," he told 1News on Monday.
"She liked being involved with people and helping them and working with people who hadn’t had the best chances in life."
Wellington woman Susan Cade, who also died in the boating tragedy, has been described as "a fabulous person" by her friend who runs Feet With Heat, where she was learning to dance.
Jo Matsis told 1News through tears her friend, "Was a fabulous person, a big ray of sunshine, everyone's going to miss her".
"She was always bubbly, she always had a story to tell... A very active person, very full-on with kayaking, bird watching, and photography, but dancing was her life.
Susan Cade was learning to dance and led an active life. (Source: 1News)
"Always very giving, very kind, very loving."
Rodney Moore, who runs the studio with Matsis, told 1News: "It's a bit sad to think that we'll no longer have any more lessons with her."
Information from Maritime NZ shows the boat involved was surveyed to carry one crew member and 10 passengers. It is still not known if everyone on board was wearing a life jacket.
Maritime NZ investigators are working on the accident.
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