This view of Lord Howe Island from 1788. Modern charts have more detail, but in truth not a lot more accuracy. We radioed into the island to reach the constable (with whom we had been communicating) and he came out and led us into the mooring area. We had to moor instead of anchor because anchoring could damage the coral. The coral reef here is the furthest south of any coral reef in the world.

The morning we arrived at Lord Howe was beautiful and the lagoon was spectacular and we looked forward to a pleasant stay.

We were actually amazed at the level of development on the island. The "dingy" dock was a big strong structure capable of landing a good sized supply ship.

When we got ashore our first order of business was to get a bite to eat and complete our check-in procedure. We felt very "hyper" and I later realized that we had a lot of adrenalin running during our 6 day trip in robust seas and winds well into the 40s.

We found the museum and internet spot and scheduled a tour for later in the day.

There are several memorials on the island commemorating the sacrifices of the islanders during WWII. We have often seen that islanders want to stand up and be counted and volunteer for the military at a very high rate. (We saw this on Samoa also!) Of course, there's also the issue of limited employment on many islands.

Lord Howe Island is a World Heritage Site. This means that the land and seas around the island must be preserved. There were also some very interesting birds, fish and animals on the island.

Our guide and friend on Lord Howe was a native named Clive. This man had grown up on the island and the birds and fish were his "pets." On the left he's "talking" to the providential petrals. They come to  L.H.I. to nest.

We've seen these sacred kingfishers (right) in other places, but I was able to get a pretty good shot of them on LHI.

The cows attract herons and mudlarks. The herons decided to pose for me - not so of the black & white mudlark.

A visitor to LHI is my favorite, the swamphen (left).

The brown mudhens on the right were saved from extinction by eliminating all the wild pigs on the island. The main eradication work was done by Clive and three others, including his brother.

The Currawong (left) is looking for a handout as we walk through the kentia palm forest.

Later, Clive took us to see his pet fish! You see how they come right up into the shallows for him. Many are yellow finned kingfish.
You can see by the waves that the wind is picking up.

When we were returning to the boat we could see that the waves were breaking all the way across the pass. We could NOT leave until the weather calmed down (This was to be in two days with winds gusting into the low 60s at times).

The view toward the reef was NOT reassuring.