Kermadec Islands

The Kermadec Islands are the New Zealand most New Zealanders never see.

A volcanic chain of small islands roughly 800-1,000 km northeast of the North Island. Closer to Tonga than to Auckland. Population: 6 people, who rotate as Department of Conservation staff and as Tonga Trench researchers. No tourism infrastructure. No commercial flights. No hotels.

I have not visited the Kermadecs as a tourist. Nobody does. I went in 2019 as part of a research-vessel resupply, paid for by a Norwegian institute, working with the New Zealand Department of Conservation on a seabird survey. We were on the islands for six days. This is what I learned. I write it here in case someone is considering one of the rare expedition trips that occasionally visit the chain.

[IMAGE: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1582967788606-a171c1080cb0?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop | The volcanic cliffs of Raoul Island in the Kermadec chain, with the calm blue Pacific stretching to the horizon and seabirds gliding above]

What the Kermadec Islands are

A chain of about ten volcanic islands and seamounts in the South Pacific, on the Pacific-Australian tectonic plate boundary. The deepest underwater trench in the southern hemisphere — the Kermadec Trench — is just east, dropping to 10,047 metres.

The four main islands are Raoul, Macauley, Curtis, and L'Esperance Rock. Raoul is the largest (29 sq km) and the only one with permanent infrastructure — the Department of Conservation station, the radio mast, a small landing pier. Raoul has an active volcano that last erupted in 2006, killing one DOC ranger.

The chain is part of New Zealand but in a special way — they are not part of any region or district. They sit in the South Pacific outside the standard administrative boundaries.

The marine reserve around the islands (Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, declared 2015, area 620,000 sq km — twice the size of New Zealand itself by land area) is one of the largest protected marine areas in the world. Or it was. The Sanctuary's legal status has been in dispute since 2019 because of fishing-rights challenges from Maori iwi. As of this writing, the protection is partial.

Getting there

There is no commercial transport.

Options for civilian visitors are:

1. Expedition cruise. One or two operators per year run small-ship cruises (8-16 passengers) that visit the Kermadec chain as part of longer South Pacific itineraries. Heritage Expeditions (NZ-based) and Aurora Expeditions (Australian) have both run trips. Cost: NZD $15,000-25,000 per person for a 12-14 day cruise that includes Kermadec landings. Sailings are infrequent. Possibly one or two a year.

2. Yacht charter. Some private yachts visit. Permission from the Department of Conservation is required. The journey from Auckland is 5-7 days each way by sail.

3. Research vessel. This is how I got there. As crew/researcher on a NIWA or DOC supported vessel. Not available to the general public.

Tourist landings on Raoul are tightly controlled. Macauley, Curtis, and L'Esperance are essentially never visited.

The marine environment

This is what the Kermadecs are for. The marine biology around the islands is some of the least-disturbed in the South Pacific.

The water is clear. Visibility on the protected sides of Raoul was 30-40 metres on most of our six days. The underwater visibility is partly because the islands are far from any major land mass — there is no terrestrial runoff to cloud the water.

Marine life includes: humpback whales (June-October migration peak), sperm whales (year-round), pilot whales, common and bottlenose dolphins, oceanic whitetip sharks (rare here but documented), Galápagos sharks (a known concentration), green and hawksbill turtles, a population of endemic Kermadec parrotfish, large schools of yellowfin tuna passing through. Giant trevally are common.

The reefs around Raoul are unusual — they are at the southern limit of tropical coral growth and are dominated by hardy species that can tolerate cooler water and storm damage.

If you visit on an expedition cruise, the dive opportunities are minimal — most operators will allow snorkelling from the ship in calm conditions but not full scuba.

The land environment

Raoul Island is forested with native pohutukawa (the "NZ Christmas tree", with red flowers in summer), tropical species at lower altitudes, and the rare Kermadec nikau palm. The pest-eradication programme (rats, cats, goats) since the 1990s has been one of the great conservation success stories of the Pacific — by 2002 the island was officially predator-free. Seabird populations have rebounded dramatically. Sooty terns, white terns, Kermadec petrels, masked boobies all nest in numbers that would astonish anyone who has only seen the depleted Pacific seabird fauna of the heavily-fished waters around Australia or southeast Asia.

The hike to the rim of Mount Moumoukai (the active volcanic crater) takes about 4 hours round trip. Stairway up a thickly-forested slope, then the bare ash and steam vents at the top. The 2006 eruption deposits are still visible. Standing at the rim of an active South Pacific volcano with the seabirds wheeling around you is one of the things I will not forget.

Practical realities

The weather at the Kermadecs is unpredictable. Tropical cyclones from the north can hit November-April. Strong westerly storms from the south can hit any time. The DOC ranger station at Raoul has been damaged by storm waves several times in recent decades.

Landings on Raoul are by Zodiac boat or by the small concrete pier at the leeward side, depending on swell. Even on benign-looking days, the swell can be 1-2 metres and getting from the Zodiac to the pier requires timing and a steady step.

There are no shops, no restaurants, no medical facilities beyond the basic first-aid kit at the DOC station. If something happens that requires evacuation, you are 3-5 days from any hospital by boat or one specially-arranged airlift.

Mobile phones do not work. There is satellite radio and emergency satellite phones at the station, but for the duration of your visit you are functionally offline.

A note on the conservation context

The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, when it was first declared in 2015, would have been one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. The legal disputes with Maori iwi (the Treaty of Waitangi-protected commercial fishing rights) have left the actual protection partial. The political situation is ongoing.

If you do visit, you are entering a place that very few humans get to see, in a moment when the conservation future is uncertain. Respect the DOC rules to the letter. The rangers there are doing real work, and the islands they protect cannot afford to be casually disturbed.

Combining the trip

The Kermadecs cannot be combined with most ordinary travel itineraries. Expedition cruises that visit the chain typically also call at Norfolk Island (Australian territory in the Tasman) and the Sub-Antarctic islands further south. The New Zealand country guide covers the more accessible Pacific destinations. For tours in New Zealand, Kermadec-specific options are essentially never listed — you need to find the small expedition operators directly.

For a comparably-remote tropical island chain that is more visitor-accessible, the Myanmar Mergui Archipelago is the closest parallel I can offer.

Official sources

The Department of Conservation's Kermadec Islands page is the authoritative source for visitor permissions and current restrictions. The NIWA Kermadec research page covers the scientific work being done there.

A note on the historical context

Captain James Cook's 1773 voyage passed close to the Kermadec chain but did not land. The islands take their name from the French Lapérouse expedition of 1791 — captain of one of the vessels was Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The first European landing on Raoul was in 1814, by a sealing crew.

For a brief period in the 19th century the islands were settled — a New Zealand family, the Bell family, lived on Raoul from 1878 to 1914, farming and growing fruit. Their abandoned orchard is still partly visible inland from the DOC station. After they left, the islands have had no permanent civilian population.

Periodic Maori voyaging contact in the centuries before European arrival is recorded in oral tradition. The Kermadecs were known to be too remote and too volcanic for sustained settlement.

The islands' isolation has produced an unusual biological state. Several endemic species exist nowhere else on Earth, including a flightless rail (Kermadec rail) and several plants. The successful pest-eradication programmes since the 1990s have allowed these species to recover from near-extinction.

Last word

The Kermadec Islands are not a place you visit. They are a place you are permitted to visit, briefly, for a reason. If the chance comes — through a research trip, an expedition cruise, a yacht crew — take it. The marine life is real. The seabird populations are extraordinary. Standing on the rim of an active volcano with the South Pacific stretching empty in every direction is a memory I think about often. Cold but worth it. Worth seeing. Quiet morning out there. Next time, I will pay more attention. The Pacific is large. We see very little of it. Places like the Kermadecs remind us that the protected parts are still recoverable. That is, in its way, hopeful.