South Indian Ocean (Heard Island)

The following is an excerpt from the last time Heritage Expeditions visited Heard Island, back in 2002.

"After 3 days we sighted MacDonald Island 28 nm W of Heard at first light. We had a close look as the ship sailed past and some geologists on board who were the first people to land on MacDonald discovered that the island had dramatically changed shape and we identified several new volcanoes.

We continued to Heard and arrived at Atlas Cove 2 hours later. We explored the area around the Cove in the morning and evening and were able to visit Southern Rockhopper, Macaroni and Gentoo colonies and were ourselves investigated by several parties of King Penguin.

A few Sheathbills were around, which on close inspection had shorter thicker bills with upturned nostrils and pinkish-grey legs instead of pink compared to Crozet birds. Heard Shag were plentiful and frequently circled the ship on subsequent days affording excellent photo opportunities.

We were also able to view the only Prion colony in the world where the birds, Fulmar Prions, visit the colony in daylight and although windblown I was treated to fantastic views. The slopes of the beaches were honeycombed with Petrel burrows and we even discovered a South Georgian Diving-Petrel visible in a shallow burrow, so visible it was later eaten by the plentiful Brown Skuas. The Cove was littered with snorting Elephant Seals and the odd Antarctic Fur and Leopard Seal were also found"