Sunday at Henderson

The Aquila and her jolly crew of rat slayers arrived at Henderson Island this morning, the last rodent stronghold of this summer's 7,500 mile journey across the Pacific. Next year a team of scientists will visit each of the islands we treated this summer, hopefully to declare them free of the invasive rats that have wreaked such havac on the native ecosystem. On Henderson island alone, it is estimated the rats kill eighty-five thousand baby bird chicks and eggs each year. The birds aren't the only victim. Hundreds of other native species, some unique to each island, are put at extreme risk by the very presence of a rat. Tomorrow morning, we plan to begin the application of bait, again using arial application via helicopter. Although we enjoyed a beautiful ride from Samoa to Mangareva, we paid for it on our crossing from Pitcairn to Henderson. Thirty knot winds, twelve foot seas, and solid water splashing the wheelhouse windows made for a very fitful nights sleep. The best anchorage i
s actually on the other side of the island but this last storm brought the swells in from the north, rendering the north anchorage virtually useless. Formed by a bulge in the earths crust, the island is actually a coral reef that was lifted out of the water. The top is about forty feet above sea level, and very flat. With coral heads sticking out of the dirt! As it was a coral reef, I'm guessing the cliffs around the outside are mostly limestone. The relentless sea has carved an incredible series of caves and caverns into the cliffs, as well as quite a few blowholes. Each wave that comes in smashes into the caves and compresses the air inside making an incredible amount of noise each time. It reminds me of the Pavlof volcano in Alaska, shooting out chunks of lava rock all night long. Or like a giant air cannon. Well, dinner came and I had to run. It's now Tuesday evening at Henderson Island. We started baiting early Monday (yesterday) morning, but after only a couple hours of sowing,
the wind picked up and brought some nasty rain with it. When the rain arrived, the wind came around the opposite direction and began pushing us onto the beach, forcing us to haul anchor and head to the other side of the island. We made it around to the north beach about an hour before sunset and were able to get in about six more loads per machine before the lack of light shut us down for the night. Again the winds tried to push us onto the beach, and again we hauled anchor. This time we headed about five miles offshore and just slowly drifted around until morning. Fast forward to this morning, the sun rose over a wonderfully calm sea and a beautiful blue sky. very eager to make use of such a great day for flying, we set the anchor at the eastern beach and quickly launched both helicopters. Peter was first one off the deck in 54K and both machines were loaded and headed out by 7:30 in the morning. Every person on and above the boat worked straight until 6 this evening when we shut dow
n because of low light. Between both helicopters, we have sprayed about 135 loads of bait, about 100 of which was done today. Each load is seven hundred pounds, making our total so far somewhere in the neighborhood of ninety-five THOUSAND pounds of bait applied to the island. Tomorrow will be another 6AM start, hopefully finishing the entire island before lunch. If all goes well we may get to play a bit tomorrow! Dad can't wait to go for a dive as the bottom visibility looks to be about two hundred feet. And did I mention, there's whales and turtles and sharks all around! David got a picture of a massive turtle while he was flying, hopefully he will share that picture so I can post it on the blog! As much as I would love to stay up and keep writing, my bunk is calling and I need to be clear headed for our 6AM start tomorrow.
Tune in tomorrow night for loads of pictures and another update! Good night!
Tanner - Travel Department, Henderson Tribune.