Auckland Island (Enderby Island)

Just as well we are not inclined to party until the final minute of the year as we have an 8:30 trip to Enderby Island. This is a small island part of the Auckland Island group. So how to get out of bed this morning. But once we board the zodiac all that fades away. The beach is covered with sea lions and their pups. Landing is a little bit tricky as the zodiac driver must be sure not to come too close to the sea lions. On this Island we must be at least 20 m from birds and seals.

One of the features of this island is the yellow eyed hoiho penguin and our reward for getting up early is to be able to see them. They fish early in the morning and are, unlike the penguins we have seen to date, a lot more cautious. They live in the vegetation above the beach and are very timid. We catch sight of them almost as soon as we land which was a surprise. They are critically and dangered and only live on Enderby island.

We gather at the top above the beach ready for our walk to the other side, unfortunately a large male sea lion is not inclined to let us through. He has taken up residence on the path so we just have to wait. The males can be 500 kilos in weight. Although the estimate for those that are here at the moment is more likely 400 kilos. Still a lot of seal to be confronted with. We eventually are able to start our walk and it begins through a heavily vegetated part of the island which is protected from the wind. We emerge from that onto a boardwalk and into the wind. This walk to the other side is not that steep. However, the wind is so strong. it makes it very difficult. We see the most amazing array of vegetation particularly the mega herbs, at the top of the island. A tiny white sun orchid, hard to see and not many of them. We also see albatross and shags.

Quick dash back to the ship for lunch and then out again on the zodiac for a tour around the island. This time the focus is on the geology, particularly the rocks that which are very evidently part of a volcanic eruption. We do see another two of the Hioho penguins as well as lots of shags nesting on the rocks huddled into the cliff top. We didn't get too wet.

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