Biologist Account: Heather:
"This trip was an adventure. Our major obstacle was accessing the island by kayak. We had never been to the islet before and had no experiencing kayaking on Kauai. It was a challenge to even find a kayak company that would rent to us. Fortunately, a pair of biologists from Fish and Wildlife service joined us and acted as our kayak guides. We were lucky with weather and had low wind and swells, the lowest all month. Still, there was a lot of surge in the landing area and with our kayak loaded with gear, we were less than graceful finding dry land. We hiked all our heavy gear up to the summit and were rewarded with an incredible view of Kilauea Pt. and Kauai's north shore. There was much work to be done, so we immediately set out to orient ourselves to the islet. It was exciting being a new islet. Even though it had been very dry and there was little vegetation, there was a lot of bird llife. Shearwaters nested all over the island along with a few tropicbirds while boobies and frigatebirds soared overhead. The tidal pools were incredible - full of fish, limu, crabs, and 2 of the biggest eels i've ever seen. The wind had been picking up all day and our formerly calm seas were soon dotted with whitecaps. We knew the weather would only get worse so we began our arthropod survey by setting out various traps and baits. We worked until dusk, took a quick 'dinner' break and then set up our gear for night collection. We set up a lantern and white sheet and waited for volunteers to be collected, but there weren't many (probably because of the high winds). We also had to collect from various spots around the island, which was much more difficult in the dark. I stumbled upon a roosting frigatebird that didn't appear to notice me even though I was only a foot a way and wearing a head lamp. We finally decided to lay our sleeping bags out on the summit and get a bit of sleep. The morning brought a double rainbow off the island and worse weather for kayaking. We hurried to finish our survey, packed our things, and headed back to the landing area. Upon closer inspection, the water looked much worse than I had imagined. The swell varied from large to ridiculously large and as we reviewed our options, a crowd gathered at Kilauea Pt. to watch our progress. We deliberated over the best launching spot because if our timing was off, we would be slammed onto the rocks. After some, let's just say 'minor' mishaps we successfully launched our kayaks off the islet to a round of applause for our audience at Kilauea Pt. Another survey successfully completed!