09 Dec 2017

Hundreds Of Penguins At Lusitania Bay

Another day dawned at the southernmost point of our journey into the Furious Fifties today, near the southern tip of Macquarie Island. We awoke to the sound of squawks and braying, and looked out of our portholes to see a majestic island, a shore covered in wildlife, and hundreds of King Penguins in rafts surrounding the ship. We had arrived at Lusitania Bay.

Home to 150,000+ pairs of King Penguins, Lusitania is an assault on every sense. We spent the morning in the Zodiacs close to shore, taking in every sight, smell and sound of one of the world’s largest gatherings of these incredibly beautiful creatures, and enjoying around 2 hours on the water, getting close encounters with King, Royal, Gentoo and Eastern Rockhopper Penguins, fully satiating even the most hardcore penguin-head.

Soon enough though it was time to leave and head on to our next destination, Campbell Island, via a quick look at Hurd Point. Along the way thus far we’ve had a bit more of a bump than previously, and seen the Southern Ocean in its thorny majesty.