14 Jan 2018

SHO: Heading South on Akademik Shokalskiy

The intrepid travellers left Bluff at 5 p.m. last Tuesday 9 January 2018. Soon we had Foveaux Strait behind us, as we continued south well off the east coast of Stewart Island. 

Next morning we had excellent conditions at The Snares. For two hours, we enjoyed wonderful observations of Snares Crested penguins, the endemic Fern bird, Buller’s albatross and other species including two orca on the starboard side of the Shokalskiy.

We then continued south towards the Auckland Islands, reaching Enderby Island 1 a.m. Thursday 11th. This day had perfect weather with wonderful moments viewing 5 Sooty albatross and 2 chicks; New Zealand Sea lions; outstanding Yellow-eyed Penguins and flowering Rata. With excellent weather, this evening we landed at Erebus Cove and enjoyed visiting the historic cemetery, native orchids in flower and the Victoria Tree with the 1865 inscription.

The next morning we had an amazing Zodiac cruise at  Musgrave Inlet on Auckland Island with viewing of Rockhopper penguins and nesting Cormorants. Three huge caverns were entered, each with extraordinary colours. One had no roof and another went a considerable distance until a small area of light was visible at the entrance. After lunch and with perfect weather, we had a very enjoyable visit to the WW2 Tagua Bay Cape Expedition huts. This was followed with ship cruize on top deck of where the Grafton was wrecked in January 1864. We were delighted to see swarms of pink krill surrounding the ship in thick swirls as far as the eye could see. We then left for Macquarie Island with the wind behind us, hastening our trip.