We were up at the crack of dawn today to make sure we were all ready to go for a 6:30am boat ride around the southwestern tip of Teuri Island. We went with Takaki Terasawa, one of the pioneer birdwatching nature conservationists on Teuri Island (https://www.naturelive.jp/profile.html). This wasn’t a particularly well thought-out or planned-in-advance decision. It was simply that he ran the boat tours business out of the Teuri Island information center at the campground. It turned out to be very worth it. While we were operating in Japanese with him, he confirmed that he can also provide tours in English.
I was wishing I had a longer zoom lens for most of the boat trip. But Takaki got as close as he could to the curious, hooting spectacled guillemot as he could, and even from about 30m, they were perhaps the most curious birds I’ve ever seen. Big white circles around black beady eyes, set into perfect black feathers on the head and body. And those legs. A deep, deep red.
We got back to the campsite in time to pack up the tent and catch the 10:30am-ish ferry back to Haboro. On the bike ride to the ferry terminal, we were treated to a rare glimpse of the majestic Rishiri Island rising from the ocean, still draped in its winter coat (Rishiri Island cycle touring route guide here).
