Day 8: Monday 16th August - Departure from Raoul Island

A Pintado in flight

It was a beautiful morning as Gerry and I headed to Raoul Island for a 10km stroll to the DOC base. Landing was still a bit tricky with the residual swell but the outboard made the run in much easier. The resident white terns at Boat Cove could be seen heading out to feed as we headed up the hill to the old Boat Cove hut. Half way along the track we came across Ian, the team leader on Raoul grading the track with the tractor. Maintenance on Raoul is a large part of the job. Chloe took us up to the flagpole and described how just a week ago they had been watching a pair of humpback whales cavorting below in the bay. The last whales appear to have gone and it was now time for us to follow them up the Kermadec Tonga Arc across the trench and up to Niue.  We collected our dry washing in the dry bag and headed back to Boat Cove. There was a bit more swell on the rocks and after looking hard for about half an hour we decided there wasn’t  anywhere for the little dinghy to come in safely so there was nothing for it but to swim! Lucky the washing was in a dry bag, so we lept off a big rock into the swell with Gerry pushing the washing and me with another dry bag for flotation.

Departed Raoul about 3.00PM heading north east through the Herald Islets and out to sea beyond. These islets have been the last bastion for many Raoul species while rats and cats roamed on Raoul Island. Over the tops of the islands Kermadec petrels wheeled around returning to clear out their nest sites. White capped noddies dipped and dived in the eddies between the islets and further out to sea we began to see many small groups of Kermadec little shearwaters plunge diving as they fed. Amazingly one grey faced petrel took a keen interest in the boat and hung around for quite a while.

Light winds and fair sailing, for now.