Snares Island

Between Campbell Island and Snares we had a full day and a morning at sea.  Time at sea, as I have said, goes by quickly because there is so much to do.  There were final talks to attend, attempts to get the perfect images of the several different albatrosses soaring over the vessel, and of course, getting organized and partially packed, as immediately after Snares we would be back to Bluff and departure.  When the Southern Ocean is as it normally is, rough…it adds degrees of difficulty to every action like Olympic high diving.

With the setting sun the sea calmed a bit and we enjoyed our final dinner without the necessity of holding onto the edge of the plate with one hand and using the other to work the utensils.  Soon I headed for the cabin and double-checked my cameras because a visit to Snares Island and seeing the Snares Crested Penguins is obviously difficult and often impossible even if that is on the itinerary—remember we had to pass by on our way out because the ocean was too rough.

In the morning we were in rough seas again and being bounced all over the cabin.  Everyone was concerned that we would not be able to get near Snares.  We learned that the MV Orion had the anchorage privilege as we were arriving about 11 am, however they had completed whatever zodiac cruising they were going to do and granted way to the Spirit of Enderby to take their place about noon.  As they departed the protection of Snares Island we could see the MV Orion begin rocking and rolling, plunging and recovering—we probably looked pretty much the same to them, but to see another ship responding to the rough seas was very revealing.

Ordinary visitors cannot step on Snares Island.  However, one can zodiac very close and it is extraordinary all there is to observe and photograph.  The closer we got to the island the calmer the seas became and coupled with the falling wind, the clouds departure and a full sunshine day…we were able to get very close to a lot of wildlife taking advantage of such a good day too.  Snares penguins were in great abundance in the water, in the seaweed, on the rocks and especially at penguin slide.  At least five kinds of Albatrosses (Southern Royal, Auckland Whites-capped [the Shy] Albatross, Bullers, Salvins, and Campbell), Snares Pintado (Cape) Petrels, Southern Black Backed (Kelp) Gulls, Red-billed Gulls, Shearwater Petrels and Antarctic Terns all made for busy skies.  People in my zodiac pointed out Snares Island Tomtits flitting about and calls from Snares Island Fern birds.  The ship’s bird list was becoming longer.

I was primarily interested in the Snares Crested Penguin.  Those in the water were curious about us too as they came close to inspect what we doing.  Then a large number came porpoising past our zodiacs without paying any attention to us motoring in their direction.  We were all headed for the “penguin slide,” a long smooth rock (it appeared to be about 200 feet long) that I thought was fairly steep (I estimated it to be about 45 degrees or steeper) from the ridge of the island to the waters edge.  Apparently the slide is a penguin super highway from the main nesting areas on top of the island to the water.  It was filled with Snares Penguins moving in both directions.  Another group of penguins came at high speed and the termination of their porpoising was to literally fly out of the water and attempt to land on their feet at the bottom of the slide…similar to the action I had witnesses many times in the Antarctic where the resident penguins had to shoot out of the water at high speed and sail over the lip of an ice shelf to land on the ice and snow that would let them walk to the rookery.  In the water on either side of the slide there was a great mass of floating kelp and other sea grasses, but due to the huge amount of traffic at the bottom of the slide, the sea and shore were free of the kelp.  Once out of the water the newly arrived penguins would start the long, arduous trek up the slide to the rookeries above.

I was thoroughly engrossed watching the Snares Penguin traffic and all the other activity going on around this location.  And while I would dearly like to spend time on the island taking pictures of rookery behaviors, nesting, chick parenting, etc. the penguin slide this time was special and exciting because it was so active.  After two hours it was time to head back to the ship but I was satisfied to have had a wonderful final zodiac cruise.  The weather was great and we got to see a lot of Snares Crested Penguins one of the most endangered of the Penguins.

Revisiting New Zealand: Previous Blog : Blog 5 < > Next Blog :