Steve Howell from the recently completed Polynesian Odyssey

Starting with Little Penguin and ending today with Golden Dove, this remarkable trip visited New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga before ending here in Fiji. Besides gentle seas, idyllic tropical islands (below) and ‘routine’ amazing cloudscapes and sunsets (below), avian highlights included some 31 species of tubenoses (such as the recently rediscovered Kermadec [White-faced] Storm-Petrel and numerous Collared Petrels), the endangered and extremely localized Tongan Megapode (below), the handsome Tongan Whistler (male, below), confiding Spotless Crakes on the Kermadecs, and the stunning Blue-crowned Lorikeet (below). Being around colonies numbering tens of thousands of day-flying Black-winged and White-necked Petrels, and thousands of cacophonous Kermadec Petrels (below) was incredible, as were the great flyingfish and reef fish (Freckled Pinkwing and Lemonpeel Angelfish, below). Now continuing on with the Melanesian Odyssey…

Maninita, central Tonga 

Raoul Island, Kermadecs

Tongan Megapode

Tongan Whistler 

Blue-crowned Lorikeet 

Kermadec Petrels

Freckled Pinkwing

Lemonpeel Angelfish