Exploring Enderby Island

The day dawned with perfect weather at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island, part of the Auckland Islands. It was stop #2 on our original itinerary, but was now our last stop.

Today’s activities included three options:

Guess which one we selected 🙂

Our morning Zodiac cruise was spectacular, featuring the vivid red blooming Rātā trees set against the lush green vegetation, blue sky, and ocean. The kelp was particularly memorable; our guide even stopped to pick up a piece, showing us its unique honeycomb interior.

Enderby Island is home to about a third of the world’s population of yellow-eyed penguins. Though sightings are never guaranteed, we lucked out and found several backing in the morning sunshine.

Another highlight of the zodiac cruise was spotting a Falcon, though it was too far away to capture a good photo.

We must have mis-heard the footwear instructions, and opted to wear our hiking shoes rather than muckboots for the afternoon hike. It turned out to be a wet landing followed by a muddy walk to the briefing site and our shoes got absolutely filthy. Our route took us through ‘Penguin Alley,’ where penguins typically travel from sea to forest. Although we were instructed to move quickly to avoid disturbing the penguins, there were none to be seen at the time.

The beach along our path hosted a bustling sea lion rookery, filled with dominant males, numerous females, and over a hundred pups. Despite the impressive numbers, the view from our vantage point above was limited.

We then crossed the island to an albatross colony, stopping along the way to photograph the vibrant megaherbs.

The albatross were very active, soaring over cliffs stretching down to the ocean. This was challenging photographically, but we got a few unique shots.

We retraced our steps across the island seeking a better angle for photos, and found a group of three albatrosses engaged in their courtship dance. I love watching them land, and how they splay out their feet like the landing gear of an airplane.

Just as we returned to Penguin Alley, we overheard an exciting call on one of the expedition team’s radios: “Two hoiho exiting the water!” We watched the two yellow-eyed penguins waddle up the beach and then into the forest. Most people associate penguins with cold, icy environments, which is a common stereotype. However, after my trips to South Georgia and the Falklands, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing penguins on beaches and hillsides. Yellow-eyed penguins break the stereotype yet again; they truly are forest dwellers, thriving in dense woodland habitats.

Back on the ship, Andy tried to remove the mud and seaweed from our shoes so they would be cleaned and dried for disembarkation in two days time. New Zealand customs is notoriously thorough, especially when you’ve been in a wilderness area, so Andy’s thorough cleaning meant our shoes were completely soaked (though squeaky clean). One of the crew offered to put them in the hot engine room. Meanwhile I googled shoe stores in Dunedin as a backup plan.

After a day under the sun, both of us sported what might have been a slight sunburn—or perhaps it was just a lingering ‘penguin glow’ from our close encounters with the island’s wildlife.

Next Up — A Surprise Second Shot at the Snares