Macquarie Island Expedition: Galapagos of the Southern Ocean 22 Dec 2019

Day 1: 23rd December
Invercargill

This evening we gathered at the Kelvin Hotel for our first meal together and to meet with our Expedition Leader, we were briefed on plans for the next day and the expedition we were about to set out on.

Day 2: 24th December
Bluff

Position 0800 hrs: 46º37.8’S 168º21.2’E Bluff
Weather: SSW wind 16 knots, air temperature 14ºC
Sea conditions: 2 metre swell, sea temperature 13ºC
Nature highlights: Southern Royal, Auckland White-capped and Salvin’s Albatross; Cape, Mottled, Cook’s & diving petrels; Sooty Shearwater, Spotted and Bronze (Stewart Island) Shags, Red-billed and Kelp Gulls, White-fronted tern, Little Blue & Fiordland Crested Penguins, Antarctic & Fairy Prions.

We met in the lobby of the Kelvin Hotel in Bluff at 0900, tell-tale signs betraying fellow passengers; rugged day packs; strong walking shoes; outdoor jackets and outsized camera bags.

“Hi, I’m Chris, one of your guides. Welcome to Heritage Expeditions! Please bring your bags over here. Max and I will label them and Alex will have them waiting in your cabins when you get on board. Once that’s done we’ll head down to the museum to look at the Subantarctic display, come back to the Kelvin for lunch, then at 1.30 we’ll take a coach to Bluff and the Spirit of Enderby.”

Once aboard we enjoyed tea and fresh scones in the bar-library, cleared Australian customs for Macquarie Island, settled into our cabins, then headed down to the lecture room for our first briefing at 4pm. Rodney Russ, our Expedition Leader and founder of Heritage Expeditions introduced the team,

….“ I bring you greetings from Captain Dmitri and the crew. This is Jessie Prebble our Cruise Director: She’ll be keeping the show on the road. Here are 2 of the most important people on the ship - our chefs Alain Hauswirth and Ed Roberts. This is Dave Chamley, ship’s doctor, and these are your guides, lecturers and Zodiac drivers; Lisle Gwynn, Steph Borrelle and Chris Todd. OK team, come on up and introduce yourselves…” “And now for the Zodiac briefing… safety around the ship… lifeboat drill…..”

We set sail for The Snares at 6pm, feeling the roll of the ocean as soon as we left port. After a superb dinner (choice of seared salmon or rack of lamb) served by cheerful Russian wait staff Natalia and Olga, we left the lee of bush-clad Ruapuke and Rakiura / Stewart Islands and experienced the full influence of the Southern Ocean swell.

We climbed up to the bridge and upper decks to enjoy the landscapes, seascapes and the see-sawing flight of seabirds long into the evening. Thus began our 13 day voyage to one of the most remote and wild places on earth.

Day 3: 25th December – Christmas Day
The Snares and at Sea

Position 0800 hrs: 48º01.8’S 166º37.7’E
Weather: SSW wind 12 knots, air temperature 14ºC
Sea conditions: 2 metre swell, sea temperature 13ºC
Nature highlights: Snares Crested Penguin, Snares Island Tomtit, Southern Buller’s Albatross, Southern Giant Petrel, Fulmar Prion, Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Antarctic Tern, New Zealand Fur Seal, New Zealand Sea Lion, Fern Bird.

The perfect Christmas present: fine weather for a Zodiac cruise at The Snares! We arrived here at 0730hrs. All five Zodiacs were craned off the back deck and driven to the gangway, where Russian sailors helped passengers into the Zodiacs, which rose and fell with the swell.

The granite buttresses of The Snares rose abruptly from indigo depths, strikingly blanketed by white lichen and fringed by tan-coloured bull kelp. Higher plants took hold some 20-30 metres further up, above the line of storm-driven waves. The island is covered in a mixture of forest (tree daisy Olearia lyalii with some Brachiglottis stewartii ), open tussock (Poa spp), shrublands on the seaward margins (the coastal hebe Veronica elliptica) and lichen-covered granite.

As we approached the island, endemic Snares Crested Penguins rafted past in big groups; their black and white bodies, bright orange beaks and yellow crests a study in contrast. They preened themselves in the water, porpoised, dived and torpedoed clean out of the sea onto the rocks, before hopping and walking up long, sloping rock-ramps to their nests high in the forest. They seemed very definite about leaving the sea, but eternally undecided about getting back in.

After following the shoreline some way, we motored into a cavernous tunnel, the seabed 5-10 metres down clearly visible through crystal clear water, before exiting into a perfectly calm cove surrounded by forest. Someone sang a verse of Silent Night in the tunnel to check out the acoustics and mark the season.

Buller’s Albatross nested high above us, their beautiful grey heads phasing into dark eye patches, with striking yellow bills. They were all around the island; at sea, soaring over clifftops, sitting on the water, nesting amongst tussocks and shrubs, or sitting on high rocky promontories.

Young sea lions followed the Zodiacs curiously, twisting and turning under water to get a better look at the boats. On the rocky foreshore a large male with furious red eyes defended 2 females against challenges from 2 other males, one from each side. Fern Birds and Black Tomtits fed down to the rocky sea margins. The abundance of wildlife action made it hard to decide what to look at or photograph next: a truly memorable Christmas Day.


Photo credit: C. Todd


Photo credit: L. Gwynn

Kayak Log:
What a Christmas present!

Kayaking on a flat sea surrounded by a raft of curious Snares Crested Penguins, with Hooker's Sea Lions ignoring us as they challenged each other on a wave platform, Mike and I could have been the only humans on the planet.

With the Spirit of Enderby and the cruising Zodiacs out of sight, we paddled quietly through the clear waters, marvelling as the wild inhabitants of The Snares went about their day. Penguins approached to about one metre on the surface, braver under water they came right up to our hull. Sea lions were more curious, frequently swimming right up to our paddles.

We had launched from a Zodiac alongside the Spirit of Enderby, and paddled along the coast of the island, stopping to drift past groups of penguins and posturing sea lions. The benign conditions allowed for exploration deep into a sea cave, with the waves gurgling over rocks in the darkness. Paddling quietly through a long archway which opened into a mirror-calm bay, we were joined by the Zodiacs as we went around to the famed Penguin Slide.

Sitting off to the side as penguins timed their leap ashore, we craned our necks as they made the long trudge up the smooth rock to their colonies high in the vegetation.

With the conditions so good, Rodney called over the radio to push back our pick-up time, and Mike and I paddled back south along the island before heading back to the ship. We pulled alongside a Zodiac to be transferred aboard, having paddled 5 kilometres of the most pristine coastline in New Zealand.


Photo credit: J. Kirk-Anderson

Day 4: 26th December – Boxing Day
Enderby Island

Position 0800 hrs: 50º30.4’S 166º16.5’E
Weather: NW wind 20 knots, air temperature 13ºC
Sea conditions: 1 metre swell (inside harbour), sea temperature 15ºC
Nature highlights: New Zealand Sea Lion breeding colony, endemic Auckland Island Pipit, tomtit, Flightless Teal, snipe, shag and anded dotterel; Red-crowned and Yellow-crowned Parakeet; NZ Falcon, Yellow-eyed Penguin, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross synchronised-flying, nesting Southern Royal Albatross.

The ship stopped rolling at 0300hrs as we entered the sheltered waters Port Ross, known affectionately by early sailors as ‘Sarah’s Bosom’ and anchored off our landing point at Sandy Bay. Enderby Island is low-lying, rising gently from a sandy beach in the south to coastal cliffs along the exposed north coast. After launching the Zodiacs, we landed stern first in order to keep the bow pointing into the small surf. After swinging our legs over the side, we crossed the sea-lion strewn beach to Department of Conservation field huts. A few young male sea lions made half-hearted lunges at us to remind us who owned the beach. Once we had stowed the life-jackets and changed into walking shoes, we headed up a grassy bank above the beach, through low shrubs and onto the boardwalk under a canopy of an enchanting, low-growing, red-flowering rata (Metrosideros umbellata), Myrsine and Dracophyllum trees, the forest floor punctuated by mosses, ferns and the rhubarb-like megaherb Azorella polaris. As we climbed further towards the wind-exposed north coast, the vegetation quickly transitioned down to a dense carpet of cushion plants, gentians, and the megaherbs Bulbinella (yellow flowers and strap-like leaves) and Anisotome (huge mauve globes of florets).

Endemic Auckland Island Dotterels, pipits and tomtits fed on invertebrates (Astelia) close to the boardwalk, the dotterels seemingly oblivious to our presence. At the end of the boardwalk Auckland Island Shags flapped rapidly up and down the line of cliff-tops and a pair of Light-mantled Sooty Albatross soared past in a beautiful display of synchronised flying. Deep peat above the cliffs had been scoured by the wind, revealing old layers where trees had once grown.

Thirty-five people carried on around the island, clockwise and eastward above the cliffs, around the eastern coastline and back to Sandy Bay. They reported seeing endemic snipe amongst the tussocks, Red-crowned Parakeets feeding on grass seeds and Gentianella, Yellow-eyed Penguins nesting and sea lions hauled out around the shoreline, a colony of Auckland Islands Shags, Southern Royal Albatross nesting and flying over the tussocks, a pair of falcons chasing parakeets, and walking inside the ‘enchanted’ rata forest, the canopy twisted over by the prevailing winds and floor carpeted with Azorella, moss and ferns.


Photo credit: J Kirk-Anderson

The remainder of us remained at the cliffs for a time to look at the flowering plants and watch the Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses before returning to the beach to watch sea-lions: huge testosterone-driven dominant males desperately defended their harems, erupting periodically into furious fights. Females with pups snapped at the fighting males or scrambled out of the way to prevent their pups being crushed. Females and pups lay together in small groups, pups bleating like lambs and being nursed attentively. At the top of the beach slightly older pups were being held in crèches while their mothers were at sea. We watched a sea lion give birth to a pup straight onto the sandy beach, skuas dashing in to snatch pieces of the placenta.

We enjoyed a magnificent buffet roast Christmas dinner, delayed until Boxing Day to ensure calm conditions at table.


Photo credit: L. Gwynn

Day 5: 27th December
Carnley Harbour, Auckland Island

Position 0800 hrs: 50º50.6’S 166º05.8’E
Weather: SW wind 20 knots, air temperature 11ºC
Sea conditions: 4 metre swell, sea temperature 14ºC
Nature highlights: Watching seabirds from the bridge leaving the Auckland Islands. Gibson's Wandering Albatross, Grey-backed and Black-bellied Storm-Petrel.

We arrived at Carnley Harbour at 0630 in thick fog and high winds which made it unsuitable to anchor. As a result we headed back out to North Arm in the lee of the island.

Day 6: 28th December
At sea en route to Macquarie Island

Position 0800 hrs: 51º56.2’S 164º06.4’E
Weather: SW wind 24 knots, air temperature 11ºC
Sea conditions: 3 metre swell, sea temperature 12ºC
Nature highlights: Experiencing the power of the Southern Ocean

We spent the entire day punching directly into a SW swell, a day best spent reading or lying in bed.
Rodney asked us to spare thought for those in the sailing ship era who had sometimes taken weeks to beat their way down to Macquarie Island, only to have to stand off for days until it was calm enough to land a boat.


Photo credit: J Kirk-Anderson

Day 7: 29th December
Sandy Bay, Macquarie Island

Position 0800 hrs: 54º24.8’S 159º11.9’E
Weather: Westerly wind 20 knots, air temperature 9ºC
Sea conditions: 1 metre swell, sea temperature 11ºC
Nature highlights: Sandy Bay landings: King and Royal Penguins; elephant seal weaners and young adults; orca; skuas and giant petrels hunting penguin chicks; dramatic landscapes and seascapes.

Macquarie Island, an Australian territory 34 km long x 5 km wide, is apparently the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge and the only place on earth where rocks from the earth’s mantle (6 km below the ocean floor) are being actively exposed above sea-level.

We arrived at 0900 and ferried 2 Australian Antarctic Division staff and Alex Fergus (NZ Department of Conservation botanist) by Zodiac to the Australian base at Buckles Bay. The Zodiacs returned with the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service rangers accompanying us to our landings.

We landed stern-first at Sandy Bay between sets of big waves, scrambling onto the beach as fast as possible so the Zodiacs could get off before the next set arrived. The beach and rocky headland was alive with wriggling elephant seal weaners, wrestling and barking sub-adults and groups of elephant seals simply lying sardine-style on the beach. Groups of Royal Penguins marched or stood on the beach, backs to the wind. Royal Penguins with rakish gold crests porpoised back and forth on fishing trips to feed their young in colonies high above the beach. The colony we visited via a boardwalk was alive with little groups of creched chicks, adults marching to and fro to feed them, and desperate attempts to drive off marauding skuas and giant petrels, ever alert for an unguarded chick, which they would snatch and disembowel in minutes. As we departed for the ship from our second (afternoon) landing, a pod of orca swam by and out past the ship.

What an extraordinary place and what a privilege to be here! It made the previous 36 hours beating into sou’west swells to get here seem trivial and irrelevant. The ship remained anchored off Sandy Bay overnight.


Photo credit: L. Gwynn

Kayak Log:
Margaret and Vijay were surprised spectators when a group of Giant Petrel killed and ate a penguin beside their kayak, off Sandy Bay, Macquarie Island.

The couple had just been launched from a Zodiac and were heading towards the beach when the raw act of nature played out beside them. As Mike and I paddled over, the unfortunate penguin was quickly devoured by the group of large seabirds, who ignored us and our double kayaks.

Rafts of penguins formed around us, as if there was safety in numbers and our presence. They left us to head inshore as we continued paddling along the coast, staying outside the surf zone, which was dumping on the shingle beach.

Ashore, Royal and King Penguins formed ranks of white, broken by large grey elephant seals shuffling along the beach. Penguins swam in pools on the rock platforms at the north-eastern end of the bay, and stopped to watch us. Mindful of the swell rolling in, we were cautious in our approach to the shore, back-paddling away from the breakers.

As the time approached for the passengers ashore to return to the Spirit of Enderby, we took advantage of the tail wind and paddled quickly out to board her via a moored Zodiac.

Marvelling at our witness to nature's rawness, we prepared for lunch and our visit to the beach via Zodiac.

Day 8: 30 December
Lusitania Bay cruise-by (south-east coast of Macquarie Island) and Zodiac landings at Buckles Bay (site of Australian base). Afternoon at sea.

Position 0800 hrs: 54º42.1’S 158º32.5’E
Weather: SSW wind 12 knots, air temperature 9ºC
Sea conditions: 2 metre swell, sea temperature 13ºC
Nature highlights: Huge King Penguin colonies at South-east Reef and Lusitania Bay; a pod of orca patrolling the penguin colonies.

At 0630 the Spirt of Enderby cruised to Heard Point and South-east Reef at the southern end of Macquarie Island, site of an estimated 500,000-pair strong King Penguin colony. A pod of orca patrolled the beaches nearby, their massive dorsal fins breaking the surface every few minutes. We headed north to Lusitania Bay, once the scene of mass slaughter as penguins were thrown wholesale into giant pressure cookers (‘digesters’) and their fat rendered into barrels of oil. The digesters were rusting on the beach, surrounded entirely by breeding penguins.

After breakfast we dropped the rangers back to Buckles Bay, landing on the bouldery beach by Zodiac between sets of large waves and scrambling out while Rodney, Lisle and John stood in the water with dry-suits to hold the boats steady and push them off.

The sea’s gorgeous milky blue colour was reminiscent of a glacial lake, apparently caused by penguin guano washing into the sea from the massive colonies. On shore, rangers and scientists gave us a guided tour of the base and its surrounds. In the mess we were given tea and scones with jam and cream. Some of us had our passports stamped, bought souvenirs or sent postcards from the Macquarie Island post office, which will apparently reach their recipients some time in April. Once again the wildlife was spectacular: A Macquarie Island Shag colony; scores of huge elephant seals slumbering amongst the tussocks; a Gentoo Penguin colony, with gentoos fishing amongst the seaweed or feeding their young; white-morph Southern Giant Petrels; King Penguins resting on the beach. We picked up 6 more staff from the base to transport to New Zealand, as we departed swinging by in the Zodiacs for a quick look at the Rockhopper Penguin colony near the base.

We set sail for Campbell Island at 1430 hrs.


Photo credit: Lisle Gwynn

Day 9: 31st December - New Years Eve
At sea en route from Macquarie Island to Campbell Island

Position 0800 hrs: 53º33.4’S 164º12.9’E
Weather: Easterly wind 16 knots, air temperature 13ºC
Sea conditions: 2 metre swell, sea temperature 14ºC
Nature highlights: Quarantine procedures pre-landing at Campbell Island.
Sea Shop open

New Year’s Eve celebrations deferred until Perseverance Harbour and calm waters.


Photo credit: L. Gwynn

Day 10: 1st January 2017
Col Lyall, Campbell Island

Position 0800 hrs: 53º33.1’S 169º10.0’E (Anchored Perseverance Harbour)
Weather: Easterly wind 20 knots, air temperature 12ºC
Sea conditions: 1 metre swell, sea temperature 14ºC
Nature highlights: Southern Royal Albatrosses, megaherbs, ground orchids, Campbell Island Snipe and spectacular coastal landscapes of Col Lyall.
Social highlight: Celebration for New Years Day.

We anchored in Perseverance Harbour under the island’s highest point, Mt Honey. All around us hills rose high and steep from the rocky shoreline, up through Dracophyllum shrubland and tussock clad upper slopes to rocky crags and ridges. Showers of sleet blasted the tops and the high winds made an immediate landing out of the question. The crew had to reposition the ship periodically due the wind. Everyone was dying to get outside!

The wind dropped slightly over lunch, so dressed ‘warmly and waterproofly’ we took the Zodiacs over to the Col Lyall board-walk for the afternoon. Several snipe jumped out in front of us on the way up, including a mother with a small chick. Mauve Pleurophyllum were opening beside the boardwalk and the sharp-eyed spotted 4 species of ground orchid. As we neared the col we began to see Southern Royal Albatross flying above and then around us, their huge wings sweeping across the tussocks-covered slopes and soaring on updrafts. It’s hard to appreciate just how enormous they are until you have familiar objects on land to scale them against. Soon we came to an albatross sitting on its mounded nest among the tussocks. Then we saw dozens of birds, with groups of young adults ‘gamming’, a term for their courtship behaviour, with beak-clacking, wing-stretching, yodeling, head-shaking, neck-arching, co-grooming, and flying low over the tussocks together. One over-flew us so closely we could hear the wind whistling through its wings.

It was sleeting on the col, which somehow added to the splendid sense of wildness; overlooking the rugged cliffs of the west coast, South West Bay, Dent Island and the spectacular volcanic hills and outcrops.

Cold, wet and very happy, we returned to a hot shower and a special 6-course meal and supper to celebrate New Years Day.

Kayak Log:
Our kayaks slipped across the still waters of Perseverance Harbour, calmed after the previous day's strong winds, and we were able to drift along the shoreline of Lookout Bay scanning for birds. The Campbell Island Teal, which we were hoping to see, remained elusive, but we spotted Pipit and were soon joined by sea lions snorting along beside us.

Passing by the abandoned buildings of the MetService, we found the Zodiac cruisers in Tucker Cove with cameras pointed at a Teal standing on a rock at the water's edge. They quietly motored away and we enjoyed the sight of this bird, bought back from the brink of extinction after Rodney Russ discovered one in 1975.

Paddling to the head of Tucker Cove we were escorted by four sea lions, one ahead, one on each flank, and one following in our wake. One inquisitive sea lion took a liking to Mike’s paddle blade.

Heading around into Camp Cove our two double kayaks kept our escort, but they dropped back as we approached the shallows. On the left of the beach an elephant seal shuffled towards us, then turned around and headed back into the bush. Ahead was the “Loneliest Tree in the World”, a Sitka Spruce believed planted in 1907 and the only tree on the island. Wider than it is tall, it has suffered in the past from being the source of Christmas trees for the long-closed meteorological station.

Rounding Duris Point into Garden Cove we passed roaring elephant seals, who stopped their posturing to watch our progress. Soon after another teal was spotted, feeding among the kelp where its plumage was great camouflage.

Passing Venus Bay with the flanks of Mt Honey catching the sun, it was hard to believe we were deep in the Southern Ocean, kayaking at New Zealand's southern-most island. Ahead of us the mixed vegetation on Shoal Point shone in the sunlight, and waves gently broke over Terror Shoal.

Spotting the Zodiacs returning from their cruise towards the entrance to the harbour we turned towards the Spirit of Enderby, sitting below Beeman Hill. Once the Zodiacs had dropped their passengers off at the gangplank, Margaret, Vijay, Mike and I rafted alongside the moored Zodiac and climbed the rope ladder to the deck, where we quietly celebrated a fantastic paddle in an amazing place.


Photo credit: J Kirk-Anderson

Day 11: 2nd January
Northwest Bay and Col Lyall, Campbell Island

Position 0800 hrs: 53º33.0’S 169º09.4’E (Anchored Perseverance Harbour)
Weather: Southerly wind 2 knots, air temperature 8ºC
Sea conditions: 1 metre swell (in harbour), sea temperature 16ºC
Nature highlights: Landings and Zodiac cruises from Perseverance harbour, spectacular departure from Campbell Island via Bull Rock.

Our last day on land was calm and mainly sunny. We had a choice of a long walk; the board walk again, a Zodiac cruise or sea-kayaking around the harbour.

Rodney led the long walk over the range to Northwest Bay, supported by ‘Dr Dave’. Walkers climbed up through Dracophyllum shrubland. Antarctic Terns nesting in the tussocks chided and circled overhead. A large area near the saddle was completely covered in megaherbs at peak flowering; mauve Pleurophyllum and Anisotome, bright green Azorella and yellow Bulbinella. A few large sea elephants lounged at Northwest Bay. After lunch, dozens of Southern Royal Albatross began flying across the slopes of Mt Dumas. Many others were on the ground ‘gamming’. Dozens of snipe scuttled off, their population recovering in spectacular fashion since the eradication of rats in 2001. Prior to that their last refuge had been on tiny Jacquemart Island.

Lisle, Steph & Chris drove Zodiacs for the harbour cruise where we enjoyed close encounters with the flightless endemic Campbell Island Teal (possibly the rarest duck in the world with approximately 130 known individuals); wrestling sea elephants; nesting terns, Red-billed and Kelp gulls. We landed and walked to the ‘lonely’ Sitka Spruce tree at Camp Cove, and at Tucker Cove walked around the site of the former farmhouse (Shacklock stove standing testimony in the grass), where Chris gave us a quick history lesson. Out towards the heads we watched Light-mantled Sooty Albatross with their striking grey heads and white eyes nesting improbably amongst cliff face vegetation. Meanwhile the kayakers made a landing at Venus Cove for lunch before heading back to the ship.


Photo credit: Heritage Expeditions

Jessie led the ‘board-walkers’ back up to Col Lyall, with more great opportunities for macro-photography and albatross observation. There were some challenges negotiating space with resident male sea lions on the way back to the landing.

After a very successful day we weighed anchor at 1500 hrs and set sail for Bluff via Bull Rock and North Cape. As we rolled gently on long, heavy swells in bright afternoon sunshine, Campbell Island revealed itself at its spectacular best: under cliff after massive cliff waves were smashing and being atomised to white mist; above the cliffs face after tussocky face was covered in huge colonies of Campbell and Black-browed Albatross, a gentle valley was truncated abruptly be sea-cliffs, its river becoming a huge waterfall; the dramatically uplifted sandstone cliffs of Courrejolles Point fell sheer to the sea, at one point tunnelled right through by the waves. And all around the ship albatross and petrels wheeled and soared. A perfect finale to a highly successful expedition to the Galapagos of the South Pacific.

Day 12: 3rd January
En route to Bluff

Position 0800 hrs: 49º30.7’S 168º43.7’E
Weather: NE wind 16 knots, air temperature 10ºC
Sea conditions: 2 metre swell, sea temperature 15ºC
Nature highlights: Seabirds

Day 13: 4th January
Bluff

Position 0800 hrs: 46º37.8’S 168º21.2’E Bluff

We arrived in Bluff at 0630, had breakfast and disembarked at 0830. There were fond farewells to new friends, each taking with us indelible memories of encounters with wildlife, wild places and a great adventure shared in the Subantarctic.