A voyage to the Ross Sea Antarctica, part 14
Another day at sea, a zodiac cruise along the Snares Islands/Tini Heke.
I wake up to another day at sea. We’re sailing north towards Snares Islands in hopes of an activity there. The sun is setting and the days are getting warmer.
In the morning I attend Mark’s talk on the eradication of invasive species on Macquarie Island. It took seven years from conception to execution for the program to be complete, and it’s incredible the amount of work that went into it. The results are equally astounding as Mark shows us before and after photos. Some areas that were completely denuded are now teeming with vegetation.
Before lunch I attend an engine tour, thanks to Carla, who has managed to finagle us spots. Natalie is working on one of her many presentations and is unable to attend.
We begin in the control room where the different processes are explained. Screens show readouts on all the vital systems of the ship. One screen is dedicated to the stabilizers and our guide tells us we’ll be able to see them at work during the tour.
He hands us earplugs and tells us to put them in before he leads us further below decks to see the engines. I can’t hear most of the tour from here, standing in the back, the engines loud around us, but it’s fascinating to catch a glimpse of what happens below. We pass Mar on the way down and I call out excitedly to her.
The rest of the day passes quietly. I lunch again with the dancers and attend a talk by Sam on cetacean strandings. He speaks about the work he’s done with them and about what we know generally about possible reasons why. There’s another round of biosecurity screenings we’re required to attend, and in the afternoon tea time is accompanied with XXL cookies.
After dinner I head to the bridge. It’s open once again and I catch up with June and the Safety Officer. Sam pops in and scans the horizon and checks wind conditions before retiring. I follow suit when the bridge closes.
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We arrive at Snares Island by 0730 and zodiacs are in the water by 0800. We’re called to the marina at 0930 and hop into Oscar’s zodiac and begin our cruise. By now we’re well-versed in the procedure, and I’m sad when I realize that this will be our last excursion before our return to Dunedin.
The island group was first sighted by Europeans on 23 November 1791 and named The Snares by Captain George Vancouver “because he considered them a shipping hazard.” They were already known to the Māori, who named one of the larger islands Te Taniwha ("The sea-monster")
Oscar navigates us towards the island and then slowly starts following the coast. Birds are abundant, circling the air. The island is also known for the Snares Penguin, a species named after the only site on which it breeds.
We make our way slowly along the coast to a tunnel that Oscar squeezes us through. The Expedition Officer follows in a zodiac at a distance, watching over the operation.
On the other side of the tunnel we find ourselves in a sheltered cove. On the open sea it’s windy and the sea swells, but in the cove the waters are calm. A sea lion pokes its head out of the water, giving us a once over before slipping back beneath the surface.
A cave sits at the end of the cove and Oscar navigates us towards it. A small colony of Snares penguins sits above the entrance and Oscar moves the zodiac slowly so that we can observe them as we enter.
Emerging from the cave we let others pass. Oscar continues piloting the zodiac around the island, keeping the island on our port side. Penguins dot landscape. Sea lions rest here and there along the rocks, their dark skins make them almost invisible.
Slipping into another wooded cove we see a sea lion swimming on the opposite side. We sit and wait, hoping it will come closer but it swims on the other side of a small island, lost amidst the trees.
Coming around a point we head into another cave. The island seems to abound with them. The colors of the rock shimmer in the light, violets, rose, and green.
Towards the end of our cruise we reach penguin slope, a bare rocky face adorned with penguins climbing up to their nesting grounds or headed out to sea. The wind and swells pick up and we lose sight of nearby zodiacs as we bob in the waves.
Back at the ship Oscar leaves us with the crew before heading off on his final cruises of the trip. We change and head to lunch.
The ship sets sail and I step out onto the aft observation deck to watch the Snares disappear behind us, returning after lunch to continue gazing out to where we’ve been. Looking down I watch as the sea swirls behind the ship. Albatross follow in our wake and I think that coming back as an albatross wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, spending my life on wing soaring over the Southern Ocean.
I find myself sobbing, overcome with the memories of where we’ve been, the worlds we’ve been so fortunate to inhabit, if only for a little while. The weeks have passed more quickly than I had imagined and it seems unbelieveable that we’ll so soon be back in civilization, in our own worlds. It feels impossible that our such disparate worlds manage to exist on the same planet, how tenuous the balance can be, and is.
In the evening Guiseppe presides over the farewell meet-up. We watch a video of the trip, and it’s a vivid reminder of everything we’ve done, all the things we’ve experienced. It’s also a curtain call for the ship’s crew, the entertainers, and the guides. The captain closes with a few final words.
Tomorrow it’ll be another day at sea. We’ll arrive at Dunedin in evening, but won’t disembark until the following morning. We’ll arrive first at the refueling dock before shifting down to the passenger area.
After dinner we retire to the main lounge. Cindy, Emma, and Anna perform both individually and together, showcasing their choreography and individual styles. The moon rises full over the sea, a few of stay, lingering in the lounge late into the night, champagne glasses in hand. 🇦🇶
— 14 February 2025
