21 Dec 2014

Heading Home

The first of our two 'Galapagos of the Southern Ocean' expeditions for the season is drawing to the close and we are about to anchor off Stewart Island for the night before taking the pilot who will guide us into the Port of Bluff on Monday morning. We have enjoyed calms seas, blue skies and lots of birds as we made our way north from Campbell Island.

Our days at Campbell were similar and we were able to complete all the planned activities including an extended walk to NW Bay and back via the lower slopes of Mt Duma. Another highlight was a Zodiac cruise along the upper reaches of Perseverance Harbour to some of the historic sites including the old Tucker Cove farm homestead (abandoned 1937), the loneliest tree in the world in Camp Cove and finally Venus Cove where the French observed the transit of Venus in 1874. A small group also managed an ascent of Mt Honey, the highest point on the island while the remainder of us enjoyed sitting amongst the Southern Royal Albatross on Col Lyall Ridge. The Campbell Island mega herbs were just starting to bloom and in another couple weeks the flowers will be at their peak.