Four pilot whales from a pod of about a dozen that hung around the boat for about 10 minutes © M Francis
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, but they quickly settled down to a lazy 2m roll.
Schools of fish were feeding at the surface on plankton and small fishes, and white-fronted terns dived on them to share in the feast. Mayor Island loomed hazy blue to the north and as we passed the edge of the continental shelf, marked by the 200m depth mark, the sea came to life with marine mammals.
Clinton Duffy says he saw several seals lazing around on the surface, and a pod of about 30 pilot whales came in for a close look. Soon after, 50-100 common dolphins and six large (about 3m long) bottlenose dolphins zoomed in to play on the bow of the Braveheart.
Later, another pod of pilot whales swam by, and we had a good view of their black backs glinting in the sun. Overnight the swell picked up a bit, and we are now well out of sight of land. Occasional albatrosses skim the waves with their wing tips and grey-faced petrels, and even a rare skua, have flown by. There’s not much for the team to do at the moment, so everyone is reading or catching up on sleep in preparation for the work ahead.
