Last updated: 20 March
We are happy to have benefited from favorable weather in the Austral Islands, which allowed us to complete all the planned work around the islands of Rurutu, Tubuai and Raivavae on time. There was nevertheless some suspense, since our last flight, punctuated by 3 dolphin sightings (including the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus), was carried out the day before our departure!
We therefore leave the Austral Islands on the morning of 13 March, take advantage of magnificent weather to work between Tubuai and Tahiti, make a brief stopover in the Windward Islands and begin a journey to the Tuamotu, allowing us to fly over the atolls of Rangiroa, Kaukura, Toau and Fakarava.
But let us return to the Austral Islands, where we observed the iconic sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), several species of beaked whales including Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) and various dolphins including the very distinctive Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus), easy to identify thanks to its rounded head and whitish body.
Among the large fish, at least 4 species of sharks were documented: the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), the great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) and the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus).
Let us also not forget the observation of a huge oceanic manta ray (Manta birostris, ~5m), a mobula (Mobula sp.), marlins and mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus).
Finally, hawksbill turtles were well present, as well as white terns (Gygis alba), brown noddies (Anous stolidus) and red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda).
Our stay in Tubuai also allowed us to intervene with the primary and secondary school students of the island and to lead a public meeting to share our objectives, our working methods and our first REMMOA 2026 observations.
Our mission thus ends in the Austral Islands... We thank Tubuai and its inhabitants for their warm welcome!
All the latest news from the REMMOA 2026 survey: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2742370f799f4692a2996b68387f18a9