1369: Galapagos of the Southern Ocean 30 Dec 2013

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Galapagos of the Southern Ocean - Voyage #1369

Written by Lecturer and Guide, Marcus Richards

Monday 30 December 2013

Invercargill

Expeditioners arrived at the Kelvin Hotel, Invercargill and met for the first time over dinner. The programme for embarkation day was explained and we all adjourned to make final preparations to board the Spirit of Enderby.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

Departing Bluff

Everyone boarded the ship at 1400 today in fine weather at Bluff. After a few formalities we sailed at 1600. Everyone was bristling with excitement and anticipation for the adventures to come as we took part in the lifeboat drill off Stewart Island. Drinks were held in the bar prior to dinner and everyone was in high spirits as we celebrated the end of a year and the promise of a new one. A fine New Year’s Eve buffet dinner was served by chefs Bruce Thomason and Michael Harris, which included a birthday celebration for one of our guests, Robert Ippolito. Today we enjoyed seeing our first Mollymawks of the voyage and sharp eyes kept a lookout for the larger albatrosses, without much success.

Today was made especially exciting when the Ship Doctor, John Moodie, reminded Expedition Leader Rodney Russ of the fact that we may be in the same spot as the Grafton at midnight the 3rd of January, exactly 150 years after she was shipwrecked in 1864 on the southern side of Auckland Island. Hopefully we will get to enjoy this significant occasion without sharing a similar fate!

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Snares Islands

Zodiac Cruising at The Snares Photo Credit: ABreniere

On the cusp of a new year we arrived off the Snares Islands. These majestic islands were a fitting start to our journey exploring the Subantarctic. We searched for the most sheltered side of the island group and settled on the eastern side of the main island. There we launched the Zodiacs for a cruise around some sheltered bays. We were delighted to see Snares Crested Penguins porpoising in water as well as hopping around on the granitic shore platforms. Snares Island Fernbird and Tomtit were spotted onshore amongst the beautiful Tree Daisy forest. The Antarctic Terns were especially entertaining as they displayed and interacted with juveniles. New Zealand Fur Seals lounged on rocks enjoying the sunny weather.

Dolphins were seen from the ship later that afternoon as we continued our voyage and Rodney gave a talk on the upcoming Auckland Islands, which is the next port of call.

Thursday 2 January 2014

Auckland Islands

We awoke to find ourselves in Port Ross, which is surrounded on all sides by stunning volcanic hills and islands. The decision was made to land on Enderby Island where we were greeted by numerous Hooker’s Sea Lions and multiple Yellow-eyed Penguins amongst the grassy hillocks above the shoreline. The weather was changeable but when the sun came out the vistas were astounding. We all traversed the island by boardwalk and got our first opportunity on the trip to get up close to a nesting Southern Royal Albatross just by the track. Some walked back by the same route to the beach while the majority went for a hike around the coast, going clockwise around the island until they reached the beach again. Auckland Island Snipe and Teal were seen by many of the people encircling the island. In summary, the birdlife was enchanting: Yellow-eyed Penguins, Pipits, Tomtits and Red-crowned Parakeets. The mega-herb fields and mystical Rata forest were also highlights of the walk. Seed heads were an amusing and frustrating problem on the island, as they readily stuck to clothing and equipment. Grouchy Sea Lions tried to bully some of the walkers, but fortunately these creatures were all bark and no bite. Scars on some of the older males told the story of many battles however that had been fought over female harems on the beach. Sadly Samuel and Katya noted the decrease in Sea Lion pup numbers compared with previous years. We dined that evening in the tranquil waters of Port Ross, which was affectionately known as ‘Sarah’s Bosom’ by early explorers of the region due to its sheltered waters in the Furious Fifties of the Southern Ocean.                             Photo Credit: ABreniere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 3 January 2014

Auckland Islands

We departed from Port Ross overnight and had entered Carnley Harbour by the early morning. Fortunately for us we enjoyed beautifully calm waters, so it was very different to the howling NW winds that wrecked the Grafton 150 years earlier to the day. We visited the wreck of the Grafton at Epigwatt, which consisted of a few remains of the ship’s timber on the pebbled beach. Snooping around in the bush adjacent to the wreck revealed the remains of the living quarters constructed by Captain Musgrave and his four crewmen for habitation for an eighteen-month period! Today the hut simply resembles a boulder pile that is being progressively overgrown by stinging nettles.

We Zodiac cruised around the North Arm of Carnley Harbour, passing a pointer sign from the castaway depot era of the late 19th and early 20th century. The hillsides rising up on the either side had distinct ridges of exposed walls of rock. We were seeing cross-sections of lava flows that progressively built up the shield volcano that was active in the late Miocene, centered on the middle of Carnley Harbour. Most of the islands in the region are volcanic in origin.

The site cleared by the crew of steamer Erlangen in 1939 for fuel was also visited. While some people stayed on the beach for the scenery and bird watching, the majority went into the regenerated Rata forest to look for old stumps of the ‘iron wood’ that tell of the impressive feat carried out by a desperate crew in their attempt to cross the Pacific and reach neutral waters in South America. Marcus was on the beach fossicking around for geologically interesting rock samples for his planned future research on the Subantarctic’s volcanic islands. One passenger, George Gornacz, gallantly stayed behind at this site to fill the role of Coastwatcher. That is, he got a bit sidetracked in the bush and didn’t realize that the Zodiacs were leaving. However he was promptly relieved of his duties once Agnes realized he was missing and sent Rodney back to pick him up!

Auckland Island Shags and eloquent Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses flew around the harbour almost continuously while we were there and provided a truly marvelous sight. We finished the Zodiac trip with a brief cruise around Figure Eight Island to see the small resident Sea Lion colony and sailed away from the Auckland Islands in early afternoon. Later in the day Marcus gave a lecture on the geology and biogeography of the Subantarctic Islands.

Saturday 4 January 2014

At Sea

Today was a very pleasant day at sea as we crossed the Emerald Basin, heading for Australian waters. The calm seas made it a perfect day for whale watching and there were multiple sightings in the afternoon. Some small groups of Fin Whales were seen at a distance and three Strap-toothed Beaked Whales were seen in quick succession as well, much to the delight of those who were lucky enough to see them.
Lectures were given during the day by Samuel, Katya and Rodney on the topics of pelagic seabirds, cetaceans and Macquarie Island respectively.

Sunday 5 January 2014

Macquarie Island

We sighted an Orca in the morning as we arrived at Macquarie Island in calm weather conditions. After collecting the Australian rangers from the ANARE base we headed for Sandy Bay.

Sandy Bay contains King and Royal Penguin breeding colonies. To the delight of everyone, these birds were often fearless, coming up to us full of curiosity and sometimes just keen to get past us as they made for their preferred sites along the beach. Some King Penguins would approach the equipment we kept in a pile on the beach, having a cheeky peck to aid their investigations. The gigantic Southern Elephant Seals strewn across the beach were amusing to watch. They squabbled amongst themselves, lay side by side and on top of each other in large piles and also made loud comical noises as they blew through their nostrils. They also had the uncanny ability to scratch their heads with their flippers in a remarkably anthropomorphic manner. The youngest weaned juveniles were also incredibly cute, with expressive faces and big round eyes.

We returned to ship for lunch and those keen for more headed back to the beach for the afternoon, which proved to be just as good. We met some hunters who search the island for signs of any pests that may have survived the eradication operation of the three previous years, including Leona from Marlborough with two specially trained rodent dogs.

The rangers spent the night on the ship and we were also joined for dinner on board by a group of ‘Macca’ staff who were on a survival training course in the area. No doubt they found our cuisine far more appealing  than their survival rations!

Monday 6 January 2014

Macquarie Island

The weather was mild for Macquarie Island once again today. We took a Zodiac cruise at Lusitania Bay, location of the island’s largest King Penguin colony of over 100,000 birds. The rusting, decrepit digesters amongst the penguins on the beach served as echo of an older time when penguins were killed and processed for their oil. Fortunately the island is now a World Heritage Site and the wildlife is doing much better. Multiple white morph Southern Giant Petrels were hanging around to the delight of the passengers. Before heading to the ANARE station for the remainder of the morning and early afternoon we had a quick briefing from Rodney and rangers Chris and Keith. Onshore the weather was sunny at times and generally pleasant for this part of the world. We saw many Elephant Seals and Gentoo Penguins on the beach and witnessed the daily launching of a weather balloon from the metrological station. Visiting the mess of the ANARE base we met and were able to talk to more staff members on the island and had some delicious scones courtesy of their chefs. Our return to the ship detoured past the Rockhopper Penguin colony, noting the presence of a seal amongst the birds.

A documentary on the Macquarie Island pest eradication from the past few years narrated by Keith (one of the rangers we had met) was screened onboard and copies of the DVD were distributed. At dinner we celebrated Bob Parda’s birthday. Our stay at Macquarie had been an eventful one, which all onboard agreed they had been privileged to experience.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

At Sea

It was a fairly uneventful day at sea with the vessel only rolling moderately at times. Many of us spent time on deck watching the seabirds which gracefully and continuously circled the ship as we voyaged through open waters. Lectures were given by Samuel, Doctor John Moodie, Katya and Rodney on the topics of penguins, shipwrecks, pinnipeds and Campbell Island, respectively.

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Campbell Island

Photo Credit: ABreniere

 

We awoke to find ourselves in the calm waters of Perseverance Harbour. After a briefing by Rodney we split into two groups, one to go for a full day walk to Northwest Bay and back with him and the other to go firstly exploring the coves in the upper harbor by Zodiac and then on a walk to the Southern Royal Albatross colony on the Col Lyall saddle. The highlights of the Zodiac cruise included the old farming homestead site at Tucker Cove, the world’s loneliest tree (a Sitka Spruce) at Camp Cove and a cruise past Venus Cove, where the French expedition of 1874 attempted to see the transit of Venus.

The Northwest Bay crew saw Teal and Snipe, whilst the other group saw a beautiful Teal in the harbour whilst in the Zodiacs. (We could tell it was a male by the  distinct green of the feathers on his head). Everyone of course saw the abundant Campbell Island Pipit. Campbell Island Shags and Hooker’s Sea Lions were seen hanging about the shores of the harbour. Some of the young male Sea Lions approached the Zodiacs and people on the beaches, being very inquisitive and bold creatures.

After the Zodiac cruise the group went back to the Spirit of Enderby for lunch, then was landed at the Metservice and Department of Conservation (DOC) huts below Beeman Hill for the walk up the boardwalk to the Col Lyall Saddle. We were blown away by the beautiful fields of mega-herbs which were in full flower. The view over the sheer cliff on the western side of the island showed us the effects of the prevailing weather conditions that slam the west coast of Campbell Island. The weather was good enough for us to be able to clearly see Dent Island, the last refuge for the Teal when rats used to plague the main island. However at the top of the boardwalk the biggest attraction by far was the Southern Royal Albatross colony. Some of the birds were minding their nest and others displayed with one another, which is called ‘gamming’. It resembles a courtship display between a bird pair, however the albatrosses display in groups of multiple birds. They call, spread their large wings and clack their bills in an impressive show, which was a delight to witness.

Marcus got some practice driving a Zodiac whilst transporting everyone back to the ship at the end of the day, where we enjoyed another delicious dinner prepared by Mike and Bruce, and served by our wonderful waitresses Natalia and Zoya.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Campbell Island

Early in the morning some enthusiastic expeditioners set off for the summit of Mount Honey with Agnes and Katya. The hike was a success from a botanical perspective, however not the best in terms of sightseeing due to overhanging cloud at the summit. The remainder of the group enjoyed a Zodiac ride with Samuel and another opportunity to climb Col Lyall Saddle with Marcus. Those who went on the Col Lyall boardwalk had an amusing encounter with a stubborn Sea Lion that flatly refused to move off ‘his’ track and did his best to delay our passing around him on a big half circle detour through shrubs and mega-herbs. We all returned to the ship for lunch.

We hauled anchor and departed Campbell Island in the early afternoon in windy and patchy cloud conditions. As we exited the harbour we saw the enormous Campbell Mollymawk colony at North Cape by Bull Rock. There the sky was full of seabirds as we set a course for Bluff, on the New Zealand mainland. The seas by then were distinctively rougher than we had previously encountered on the expedition. We had been extremely lucky to enjoy calmer waters during all our island visits on this voyage, the bad weather only catching up with us near the end of our adventures.

Friday 10 January 2014

At Sea

This was a day of tying up loose ends and trying to remain unscathed as the ship rolled violently at times. The rocking and rolling died down somewhat in the afternoon and two short documentaries on Campbell Island rat eradication and the captive rearing programme for the Campbell Island Teal were shown. We celebrated our last night together with bar festivities and a magnificent buffet spread put on by the chefs. Later in the evening Rodney gave a recap of our voyage and we enjoyed a photo presentation of the trip compiled by Katya which included many beautiful photos taken by the expedition team. This was made available to everyone who wanted a copy to take home. Samuel also compiled the last day of our bird list in the bar. We all retired to our rooms and started to back our bags, full of memories from our adventure and thinking ahead of what adventures lay ahead.

Saturday 11 January 2014

Bluff

After an early breakfast and a meeting with New Zealand Customs, we disembarked at the port of Bluff. It was time to say our goodbyes and journey back to our homes in different parts of the world, returning to our individual lives, houses and occupations. We will not forget however the awe-inspiring expedition we had shared and the treasured memories we will carry with us for a long time.