Nightingale Island: The Landing We Couldn’t Count On

After four days at sea, the Tristan da Cunha archipelago was finally in sight.

The plan was ambitious. We would visit Nightingale Island in the morning before moving to Tristan da Cunha in the afternoon. We needed to make the most of the day because the wind and swell were expected to increase, making further operations unlikely.

And there was already quite a swell when we arrived.

A Rough Start at Nightingale Island

The swell was over two metres, enough that the crew couldn’t open the ship’s side gate. Instead, the Zodiacs had to be lowered from the back of the ship and with drivers boarding via the tender ladder. We watched from our balcony as the expedition team tested the conditions. The boarding platform would disappear beneath the water as the ship dropped into the swell, then rise again with water cascading off it and into the Zodiac.

 

 

It didn’t look particularly promising. Luckily, the expedition team was determined.

There were two options at Nightingale Island: a Zodiac cruise or a hike. Actually, there were three options.

We had booked what Silversea called the “photo boat.” When I first heard about it, I thought it was a genius upsell. For $500 USD per person, you went out with the expedition photographer in a Zodiac limited to four passengers. That meant plenty of room for camera gear, more flexibility and a little longer on the water.

It wasn’t cheap. But if there was ever a place where we were willing to splurge for the possibility of a better wildlife photography experience, this was it.

Our photo Zodiac was scheduled for 8:45 a.m.

The other two passengers booked with us wanted to do the hike if it went ahead, with the photo boat as their backup. The problem was that the hiking operation was still on hold. We needed to wait for the locals to arrive in their RIB so the landing site could be assessed.

We were perfectly happy to wait.

The weather seemed to be improving, and we quickly realised that if the hike went ahead, the other couple would leave us with a private photo Zodiac.

Eventually, the ship got the go-ahead.

They could hike.

And we had the boat to ourselves.

Photographing Northern Rockhopper Penguins at Middle Island

Our Zodiac was one of the larger ones, with Allan, the expedition photographer, and Anthony driving. It was just the four of us.

 

 

The sea was still very swelly, particularly as we got closer to the islands where the waves were moving in and out around the rocks. Andy and I had split a Bonine before leaving the ship.

In retrospect, perhaps we should have taken one each.

 

 

When we originally booked this expedition, we thought the northern rockhopper penguins were on Tristan da Cunha. Somewhere along the way we learned that the colonies we hoped to see were actually around Nightingale Island. But even that wasn’t quite right. The penguins we had come all this way to photograph were on Middle Island, one of two small satellite islets immediately off Nightingale.

Having the photo Zodiac to ourselves turned out to be even better than we had hoped. We could ask Anthony to move slightly back or change our angle, while Allan helped position the Zodiac so we could photograph the penguins against blue sky, tussock grass or rocks rather than simply taking whatever view we happened to get.

The light was perfect.

There was also enough room to move around without worrying about blocking anyone else’s view with a camera or long lens. Andy even laid down on the bottom of the zodiac for an interesting angle. Or maybe it was due to seasickness.

Allan took plenty of photos of us as well, which was an unexpected bonus. We spend so much time behind cameras that we don’t always come home with many photographs of the two of us actually having these experiences.

Penguin #16. Check.

In addition to the penguins, there were a lot of fur seals swimming around our zodiac. I tried to get some underwater video, but it didn’t turn out too well 😭

 

After spending time around Middle Island, we crossed over to Nightingale Island near the research settlement before eventually returning to the ship.

And with that, a huge weight had been lifted.

Other than our trip to Snow Hill Island for emperor penguins, the northern rockhopper was probably the riskiest penguin we had attempted to see. Not because the birds were particularly difficult to find once we reached them, but because of the investment in time and money required just to get here, combined with the very real possibility that the South Atlantic weather might prevent us from seeing them at all.

This time, it had worked.

Next up –> Landing on Tristan da Cunha