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| Southern Royal Albatross |
Our first stop after departing from Bluff at the southern
tip of the South Island was The Snares. First we had to get through Foveaux
Strait, a swell-filled patch of sea separating Stewart Island from the
mainland. On my November trip to Stewart Island, I nearly got sick on the one
hour ferry ride, which is on a fast and stable catamaran, because the waves
were so big, driven by high winds, tides, and enhanced by shallow waters.
I was already worried about how I would fare on this three-week trip (December 22-January 8). The
Spirit of Enderby / Professor Khromov was built as a research vessel and
converted to a passenger ship, much like the Ortelius I traveled on last year (same shipyard, similar layout,
but twice as many passengers on the larger Ortelius).
They are both icebreakers and as such, the bottom is rounded so it pops out of
the ice should it be frozen in, instead of becoming trapped with a (stabilizing)
keel. The Professor Khromov is on its
way to the Ross Sea right now so this is a useful/critical feature for that
trip. For our trip however, we didn’t see any ice.
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| Light-mantled Sooty Albatross |
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| Professor Khromov, aka The Spirit of Enderby, anchored in protected Tagua Bay, Auckland Island while we checked out the former coastwatch station (or waited on the rocky beach futilely for a Yellow-crowned Parakeet to show up in my case) |
The prevailing winds in the Southern Ocean are from west to
east so we had a significant swell off our beam for most of the trip. We each
tried to capture the effect in videos and pictures but I didn’t get the key
video that would’ve done it justice – that of me sliding back and forth (about
8”) on my mattress in my bunk (set width-wise which is nice if you’re heading
into the swell, not so nice in this situation). With the larger swells that we
experienced on the southbound trip, I would alternate between using my
legs/feet as shock-absorbers and my head, braced with hands overhead on big
ones, banging into the big life preserver I used as a cushion between me and
the desk. More than once my roommate Madeleine and I would just tumble into
laughing fits at the ridiculousness of the situation and the futility of trying
to do anything about it.
Going up to the bridge when we tilted 35-45° didn’t really
make me feel much better because watching across to the other side’s windows, I
saw the sky alternate with the sea right next to us. The horizon was in there
but only for a moment on each swing. Again, trying to counterbalance
constantly, while looking through binoculars or a camera, was comical/hopeless.
Meals were also a source of laughter if you were in the mood, swinging back and
forth, quickly grabbing silverware or glasses as they broke free of the plate
or the non-skid rubber table surface. Our two servers and two cooks were
amazing. I have no idea how they manage their jobs, walking with both hands full of multiple plates and maintaining a
professional demeanor while the rest of us are just holding on and trying to
finish eating quickly so we can get back to the relative security of our
bunks.
I expected the seas to be rougher on this trip than last
year’s trip because we didn’t have the protection of South Georgia or the calm
waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, just open water with a very long fetch
and high winds to whip up sizeable swells. The winds were so high on our first
attempt at reaching Macquarie Island that we had to turn back after 20km to
spend a quiet night in the Auckland Islands while waiting for the storm to
pass. That’s the only leg I got sick on and after doubling up on medication,
and somewhat calmer seas the next day, I managed to keep it together for the
next attempt to reach Macquarie.
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| Antipodean Wandering Albatross |
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| White-headed Petrel |
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