Heritage expedition
On the 7th of April an expedition full of keen adventurers departed from Tauranga to explore the Kermadec islands on an ecotour run by Heritage Expeditions. On board, as a guide, was Karen Baird from Forest and Bird who reported back on the daily events.
Volcanic Outlands
After my sailing adventure through the Kermadec Region last year, this time I am joining 48 other passengers on an ecotour adventure to the Kermadecs with Heritage Expeditions.
Tourist trips to this isolated archipelago are very rare with expeditions occurring once every year, or couple of years. I’m interested to find out what draws this select bunch of ecotourists north to our farthest outpost. I’ll be posting a blog every day with highlights from our trip.
View of boat (Spirit of Enderby) from surfacing diver. Photo Cameron Russo
Day One
Oh bugger! I left one of the bags going around the carousel at Tauranga airport but the taxi driver just laughed and turned around. Normal chaos was apparent as I arrived ship side. Mountains of luggage appeared and vanished as staff whisked our gear into the various cabins.
A safety drill ensued. I was very impressed that we actually had to don our bulky life jackets and then clamber into 1 of 2 self-enclosed lifeboats – each fitted out with actual motors for propulsion!
Once out of Tauranga Harbour we were hit by a stiff southerly wind but that did nothing to dampen the excitement of the expeditioners on the top deck as we sailed towards the high seas.
After exploring the layout of the ship, unpacking and trying out the bunk it was time for lunch and the first opportunity to get to know some of the passengers.
I hadn’t seen Mary Carney from Whangarei for many, many years and I hoped she didn’t remember me as one of her dive students, with the least aptitude! Mary, like 17 other expeditioners is travelling to the Kermadecs to dive. A highly trained and experienced diver, she is like many of the other divers on the trip. They are knowledgeable about dive locations around the world and the Kermadecs is ‘up there’ as a dive destination.
Other passengers are interested in the islands themselves. Peter Hallinan is ex MetService from 1955/56 and a keen tramper. He remembers communicating with the Met Staff on Raoul Island, and has always been curious about what the island is like.
Dr Gwen Struik and husband Roger are ecologists (retired from their professional lives) but are still involved in long term studies in fisheries ecology. On top of this, they run a local environmental group in Tasman Bay. But points out Gwen that, isn’t why they are here. “We’ve just always enjoyed snorkelling with myriads of fish”.
Amateur botanists, Tararuaites & Forest and Bird members, Marianne Jenna and Syd Moore, were inspired by my article in the December issue of our Forest and Bird magazine!
Indeed, there doesn’t appear to be any one draw card to the Kermadecs so far from talking to people except perhaps the remoteness itself. One enthusiastic diver said to me “It’s like the Galapagos of NZ”. That’s how he described it to his friends so they would have an inkling of what he was on about.
Gwen Struik. Photo: Karen Baird
Day Two
Full day at sea. Today we woke far from land anywhere but somehow a white-faced heron found us, spotting the ship and then flew over to land exhausted on the upper deck.
Passengers gradually filtered out onto the upper deck outside to enjoy the early morning sun. Most passengers had grown used to the pitch & roll of the ship overnight and any queasiness was quickly vanquished with our first sighting of three beaked whales (what we believed to be Cuviers Beaked Whales). They all had a brownish white heads and wore cookie cutter shark scars along the length of their bodies. These beaked whales have a bulbous fatty melon on their foreheads which is thought help with echolocation. It is thought that each species evolved in the different deep ocean trenches.
The rest of the day was interspersed with presentations including my “Introduction to Seabirds of The Kermadecs” and an “Introduction to the Marine Life at the Kermadecs” by divemaster Pete, and sitting around on deck admiring the entourage of black petrels, grey-faced petrels and albatrosses that accompanied us.
But it wasn’t just sea-birds that stayed close, our weary hitchhiker was still sitting on the life boat as the sun set!
Sperm whales. Photo Karen Baird.
Day Three
Great excitement this morning – our first glimpse of the Kermadec Islands L’Esperance or French Rock as it was known by early whalers.
This jagged piece of scoria dripping with white mineral leachate thrusts out of the sea and quickly drew camera-wielding passengers to the deck. Standing at 30 metres in height, and fitted with just 5ha of soil, very little grows on this island apart from iceplant. Despite its imposing look black-winged petrel and grey ternlets are known to breed there. White-naped petrels and black-winged petrels were commonly seen, but as we got close enough red-tailed tropic birds could be seen wheeling over the top of the rock.
Just as we departed French Rock a large school of 30+ bottlenose dolphins joined us for some bow-riding. These Tursiops species appears smaller than the Tursiops seen around NZ coasts and it has been speculated that they could be a genetically distinct, isolated population.
During my introduction to Raoul Island talk on the ship, Adam our other bird guide spotted some unusual species for this region: two Gould’s petrels and a Providence Petrel. Later on many people got fantastic views of both flying fish and flying squid!
A few hours later we arrived at Cheesman and Curtis islands - these island are the most pristine islands in the group with no known human impacts. Curtis is an active volcano, entirely made up of steep sided crater walls rising to around 130m with steaming vents on the crater floor. The black-winged petrels are believed to number between 10-20,000 and an estimated 3,000-5,000 pairs of the ‘at risk’ Kermadec little shearwater, also make their burrows in the thermally heated soil. Wedge-tailed shearwaters, sooty terns and large flocks of feeding grey ternlets are also present.
Tursiops bow riding. Photo Karen Baird
Day 4
I barely noticed we had anchored off Raoul island except for a slight change in the motion of the ship at 2am.
Early morning on deck and black-winged and Kermadec petrels wheeled in big arcs over the boat and curious young boobies cruised past looking at this strange new island that had appeared overnight.
Training my binoculars on the tiny islets off Raoul that are their home I was shocked to see how devastated the cyclone had wrought havoc.
Bare earth showed everywhere and nearly every tree had been flattened. It was heartbreaking to think that many of the Sooty tern chicks and the eggs of the Kermadec petrels would have been destroyed in the cyclone. Staff on the island told us that the eye of the cyclone passed directly over them.
Raoul Island too, was severely impacted by the winds. Many large pohutukawas had been felled and new slips were visible on steep ridges as we raced into our landing at Fishing Rock. Three bottlenose dolphins zoomed in to accompany us and birds circled over head.
Strict quarantine procedures are required for landing at Raoul. Jess the Raoul Team Leader and I went through people’s gear and shoes before they clambered down into the zodiacs.
DOC staff and volunteers played excellent hosts, excited to see new faces after five months.
The expeditioners were welcomed with home baked scones and tea on arrival at the main base on the northern terraces. Tui seemed to be everywhere and took very little notice of people as they tucked into fallen oranges.
The orange trees are one of the many fruit tree remnants of the early settlement attempts on the island. One enterprising tui had found himself a beautifully flowering nikau tree, but far from supping on the nectar he had stationed himself in front of it, snatching insects from the air as they were attracted to the flowers.
Parakeets too were everywhere, even happily digging on the front lawn, or chattering excitedly at every turn in the track. Spotless crakes are a surprising find for some visitors unabashedly striding around in the open before dashing back under cover. The expeditioners wandered around or were guided on walks and everyone who had an objective appeared satisfied with their day.
The divers, too had a fantastic first day diving, many just sitting on the bottom gazing at the Galapagos sharks as they circled curiously, or spent time photographing the huge spotted black groupers in the clear water. I’m really hoping for a dive myself before we leave these enchanting isles.
Good news from the divers though – when they popped their heads up they reported huge bird activity and possibly courtship mating from the Kermadec Petrels so perhaps they will be re-nesting again soon on the Meyer Islets, or better still they might decide to shift to some far better real-estate on Raoul Island, now completely predator free and offering up tons of space.
Kermadec Island Tui. Photo Karen Baird
Day 5
Today we spent the morning fish-ogling, and although squalls would pass over occasionally it did little to dampen people’s enthusiasm to jump in and enjoy a snorkel.
I am normally not one for lists, but I thought it would be easier to list the fish we met rather than writing up one piece which would require me to find neat little segue ways!
So here goes (deep breath)
Fish we’ve have seen
- Giant limpets clamped to massive boulders
- Caramel drummer fish grazing on short turf algae
- Black angel fish chasing each other
- Notch headed marblefish - Kermadec Kahawai cruising in the mid-zone
- Small grey knifefish who spent much of their time hugging the surface.
- Painted moki
- Some dangerously-spiked lionfish
- Two small galapagos sharks, and one inquisitive one who tailed me. We formed what you call a ‘wagon circle’ immediately, and eventually he grew tired of us and swam off.
The sea-life was incredible, and snorkelers close to me even managed to clap eyes on a green turtle - one of three species that feed in this temperate/tropical zone.
One fish that was largely absent from the seas was black grouper – perhaps they has been battered by the recent cyclone?
Turtle swimming at Raoul Island. Photo Steve Smith
Day 6
Today we wheeled around the top end of New Zealand – a small unassuming rock called Nugget island. And despite being confined to the ship, cruising around the island afforded fantastic views of the coastline.
As we sailed around the Herald Group of Islands just a couple of kilometres offshore from Raoul Island we were struck once again by the devastation caused to these tiny seabird breeding islands
Even on the main island some slips were so huge they had carried off whole chunks of the island into the sea.
A lone sooty tern flew by close to the ship, and I hoped that at least some of their offspring had fledged before the cyclone two weeks ago.
Despite the damage to their breeding colonies, the Kermadec Petrels in particular were seen diving in duets over the islands in renewed courtship displays.
Tasman boobies could still be spotted on the tops of the islands sitting on the ground and the occasional red-tailed tropic-bird could be seen tucked in under various overhangs.
It was heartening too, to see white naped petrels in close to shore - perhaps they will return in September to breed on Raoul Island for the first time this century.
Day 8
Today we explored Raoul island – the largest island in this archipelago and one of the most explosive cones in this volcanic arc.
One passenger Peter missed the rock we were alighting onto and plunged into the swirling sea, whereupon his automatic lifejacket instantly inflated and he was hauled back into the zodiac for another go.
Over the years, the island has played numerous roles: farming spot, military outpost, whaling provision station, but now it serves two roles: as an ecological reserve and as a meteorological station. So it was fitting that our ex-weatherman on board got to hoist the weather balloon!
While the landlubbers explored the island the divers explored the underwater world again, reporting back with fantastic sightings of spotted black grouper, Galapagos sharks, huge schools of blue fish, green turtles and tiny moray eels.
Moray eel. Photo Cameron Russo
On land, the sightseers split into two groups: some headed to the top for views of Denham Bay and the crater lakes. While our group wandered down to Ravine 8, one of the several deeply incised valleys on the north side of the island.
View into the crater. Photo Kevin Mills
Like many islands across New Zealand, history remains frozen in time because transporting machinery, or old equipment is just economically unfeasible. So short-lived military operations, or ill-thought out ideas are memorialised in rusty equipment or buildings gone fallow. These reminders are dotted throughout the island, and we got to see a relict of Raoul’s farming past: a saggy old woolshed.
The Bell family were one of the earliest European settlers to the island arriving in 1878 lured by the generous rainfall and sub-tropical climes.
Undeterred by the explosive nature of the land they were living on they quickly planted up the rich volcanic soil with an lemons, oranges, tea, kumera, coffee, tobacco, paw paw, grapes passion fruit, guavas, candle nuts, peaches. In 1889 the government tried to settle the island unsuccessfully by bringing 20 men, women and children. None stayed.The Bells finally abandoned their beloved island in 1914 after a cyclone destroyed their farmstead.
During our ramble we also came across one of the vital pieces of infrastructure on the island: the airstrip. This piece of mown grass plays an important transport role, and comes in handy for medical evacuations or even airdrops of supplies via the NZ Air Force. The DOC staff that live on the island were rather low on fuel supplies, and although we could help tide them over for the next few weeks, fuel was being rationed carefully until next month’s drop.
As we skirted around the bottom of the island, and reached the beach we were amazed to find black coral on the beaches: the cyclone had obviously shaken up even these relatively deep-water corals. One of the branches still had one of it’s symbiotic snake stars wrapped around it. Anna the dive master on the ship said she saw one at about 20m on her dive, also with its snake star wrapped tightly around it.
One of the other victims of the cyclone has been the birdlife. Several dead tui confirmed that many had succumbed to starvation after the trees in the area were stripped of their berries by the cyclone. One tiny Coprosma tree containing ripe fruit was surrounded by nearly 30 competing tui.
Leaving the island for the last time is hard. I’ve always thought that islands have a way grabbing your attention and holding onto you, demanding that you look further and deeper into every nook and cranny.
I know there are still many unexplored parts – not just the islands themselves, but also the underwater world, whose biological treasures are slower to reveal themselves. I’ll need to come back one day to enable me to delve further into the watery world of the Kermadec Region.
Day 9
Awoke this morning SE of L’Esperance Rock en route back to Tauranga. It was great conditions for viewing dolphins and whales and sure enough we had sightings of several pods of Risso’s dolphins and a large pod of Sperm whales.
“Whales off the starboard side” was the call and soon every expeditioner was on deck clutching cameras and pointing excitedly.
The whales didn’t come too close, they seemed to be logging and quite spread out, their misty breaths visible in the sunlight some distance away.
L’Esperance was also known as ‘French Rock’ and the very important French Rock whaling grounds to the East attracted American and Soviet whalers in the early part of the 18th century.
It was these very valuable whaling grounds that ensured the settlement of New Zealand would take place. The spermaceti oil taken from these whales would be used to light the cities and lighthouses of America.
The other surprising sighting for the day was a welcome swallow, which arrived this morning and settled itself on the top deck. We were at least 100nm from Raoul and an even greater distance to mainland New Zealand.
White-naped petrels were still seen in good numbers and a red-tailed tropic bird entertained those of us on the top deck coming in close several times to look at us.
These birds once bred on Raoul in large numbers but were exterminated by rats and cats, and are now starting to return. Everyone was out trying to get a picture of this stunning bird with its huge red bill and black paddle feet, including me!
Red-tailed tropic bird. Photo Karen Baird
Day 10
As we farewelled the warm sub tropics and moved closer towards New Zealand, the old familiar parade of temperate species escorted the ship, as well as a few Providence and Gould’s petrels.
Large rafts of grey-faced petrels were prevalent around the Alderman Islands and Campbell and white-capped albatross dotted the sea further out. A couple of sharks including a hammerhead were also noticed as we steamed around the islands…
It was nice to return to New Zealand and be reminded that we also have a lot of fantastic coastline around mainland New Zealand as well as the more exotic locations such as the Kermadecs.
In memoriam:
I would like to commemorate two people. Our beloved Don Merton - a visionary conservationist who passed away in Tauranga while we were away on this expedition. My deepest sympathies go out to Margaret Merton and the rest of their family.
Also Sue Larter a passenger on this vessel who died after getting into difficulty while on a supervised snorkelling trip at Raoul Island on this expedition. Sue’s husband John was also on the expedition and my heart also goes out to John and the rest of their family.
Photos: Cameron Russo, Steve Smith and Karen Baird