These fish are commonly known as toadstool groupers, because they have little white spots on a red background, which is similar to amanita toadstools. They also have a scientific name: Trachypoma macracanthus, which is nothing to do with toadstools! What a

We are making 9.5 knots into a 20 knot nor’east wind, and we are just an hour away from the first of the Kermadec Islands we will reach – L’Esperance. The crew are hardened sailors and are enjoying the trip

First land sighting – L’Esperance rock. But there will be no landing today – you can see it is pretty steep and rugged and exposed to waves. There was a real buzz on the boat as we sighted our

Report from the Braveheart last thing Wednesday evening: We passed Curtis and Cheeseman islands just on dusk – big impressive hulks they were, too. Very steep sided. And about an hour ago I was sitting on the back deck and

After years of planning, we’re finally on our way to the Kermadecs! We departed Tauranga about midday yesterday on a sunny calm day. Motoring out past Mount Maunganui, we hit the ocean swells that were building up over the bar,

It’s a beautiful day in Tauranga, and the excitement is building. We have all been assigned our bunks, and all the dive gear and collecting gear has been stowed in the hold. The crew have spent the morning loading the

So what does a botanist need for collecting specimens? Peter reports he’s been ‘sourcing large snap-lock bags, folding millions of paper packets for collecting mosses, liverworts and lichens into, and I have purchased a set of rock chisels to prise

One of the things Clinton Duffy from the Department of Conservation has on his ‘to do’ list for the trip is to collect tiny skin samples, or biopsies, from Kermadec bottlenose dolphins. To do that he needs to know how

While most eyes on the boat will be on things that live in the sea, we haven’t forgotten that we are visiting a chain of islands and we have two land experts along with us who we’ll be trying to