It’s late afternoon, and the crew are just pulling up the anchor (it’s clattering and rattling noisily above my head as I type). This morning we moved from Boat Harbour across to the Chanter Islands so we could dive there for the day, and now we are heading over to Fishing Rock, the landing spot for Raoul, to anchor there for the night. The wind swung from the north to the south this morning, so we need a spot that’s sheltered from wind from this new direction.
Peter and Warren, the land crew, spent last night ashore on Raoul Island so they could collect invertebrates at night. They were picked up just after lunch today, and dropped off on North Chanter Island for a look there – this is the first time anyone as looked at invertebrates there, so that’s very exciting, as it’s another little rat-free gem.
We had a big thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon, but aside from that the weather has been pretty much the same most days – grey and overcast.
No sunshine to speak of, but the air temperature is very mild – no need for jerseys, even at night.
It’s hard to believe we’re already one third of the way through the expedition! Today was our fifth day of diving and collecting. The tally of fish species collected is now more than 80 – and climbing. To put that in perspective, the total number of fish species recorded to date for the Kermadecs is 165, while the total number of fish recorded from the entire New Zealand region (from the Kermadecs to the subantarctic islands, including deep water fish) is around 1330.
Impressive tally: after one week the tally for fish species collected is over 80. To put that in perspective, the total number of fish species recorded to date for the Kermadecs is 165 © M Francis
