Subantarctic islands

On the second day of our trip we cast anchor at the Snares a small island group approximately 200 kilometres south of New Zealand's South Island. This group has miraculously remained untouched by whaling or sealing and is one of the last pristine areas of New Zealand. For more information on the Snares look here (you will find a couple of maps there too). To protect flora and fauna we were not allowed to land and could only look from the Zodiacs. Here we saw our first penguins (the Snares crested penguin).

(click on an image to enlarge
It was nice to be so close to the (calm) water. Although the sights were not altogether new to me — having lived in New Zealand long enough to know the coasts fairly well — it was special to see so many penguins and to see so many albatross in the air. These were the smaller Buller's mollymawk.

We also saw a few Hooker sea lions.
(I have never been able to remember the difference between a seal and a sea lion. Apparently seals are ‘true seals’ and are earless, while sea lions (confusingly sometimes bearing the name seal) are eared.) The Hooker sea lion (or New Zealand sea lion) only occurs in New Zealand and the New Zealand subantarctic islands. The total population is estimated at about 13,000. The colours of the kelp and algae and the rocks, combined with the very blue and clear water added to the sights on this sunny day.


When all the zodiacs had returned to the 'mothership' we set off for the Auckland Islands, which lie about 465km south of the New Zealand South Island. This was another rocky trip. (... to be continued)