Monarch Cruises

For the afternoon I booked a combo package.
First I will cruise around the Otago Peninsula with Monarch Cruises and then I will visit the Penguin Place to hopefully see some Yellow-eyed Penguins and learn more about the wildlife here.

I had to check-in 15 min before departure time.
As I was done with my walks around 1 pm I went to the campground first and had some crackers with the lovely cheese for lunch!

Then shortly before 2.30 pm I left the campground and was very good at time at the check-in for my cruise, it’s only a 10 min drive.

The boat was just coming back from the previous tour so we had to wait until everything was ready dir our tour. Then it was time to board the ship. We were waiting a couple of minutes for another two people that were late but had to leave before they were showing up.
We first went to some Shags colonies. There were two different Shags to see, on the first picture you can see the Otago Shags, that are only found around this area in New Zealand.
In the second picture, it’s the Spotted Shags.
They prefer totally different Typ of terrain as you can see!
Our skipper gave us a lot of information about the area and the animals around us.
Next up where the fur seals. One was trying to get up the cliffs but didn’t make it. We also saw a few puppies laying around in the middle of the fourth picture.
Then we turned around the corner to see the nesting place for the Royal Albatrosses. It’s the only breeding colony on land!!

Unfortunately, the weather conditions were not good to see them flying around. The weather is to good today 🙈😂
No wind at all. Albatross needs wind to glide around. Their long but narrow wings are not made for flying long distances.
You maybe can see some white spots on the last pictures, these are the nesting albatross.
But it’s hard to see them.
We then went out to the open ocean and tried to find some albatross testing on the ocean. We were actually lucky to spot one, but that one was flying away from us when we came closer.
They breed only every second year. It’s a 12-month cycle to get and raise a chick, so after that the parents separated and leave for one year, just traveling around on the ocean and never touching land until it’s time to come back and breed again.
The juveniles travel around for 4-8 years after leaving their nest without touching any land until they come back to breed for the first time!!
They drink salt water and don’t like to be on the land at all. They rest on the ocean.
Really interesting.

On the way back we even saw two Little Blue Penguins, but they were to fast to be caught on a picture.
Our skipper really tried to find some albatross, crossing around the area but we were not lucky. That’s how it is, I was at first lucky about the good weather conditions but in the end not anymore 🙈😂

Anyway, it was a nice tour with a lot of information.
Now I am looking forward to see some Yellow-eyed Penguins 🤗
Please let me be lucky with that!!Read more