Highlights include Royal Albatross, Little Blue Penguins, and fur seals.
We spent the better part of a day in Dunedin, on the southeastern coast of New Zealand. To reach Dunedin, which is at the head of a long, narrow harbor, we sailed along the Otago Peninsula, which turned out to be where we spent much of our time on-shore today. After a brief visit to the historic train station in downtown Dunedin, next to the harbor, we rode coaches all the way back to the seaward tip of the Otago Peninsula… where we had the opportunity to visit two wildlife sanctuaries.
The world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross.
The sun was still low as we pulled into a beautiful harbor between the two halves of Steeple Jason Island and shuttled ashore in Zodiacs. As we climbed into the grassland above the beach, passing a small colony of Gentoo penguins, we followed our long shadows around to the western shore of the island – home of the world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross. (Indeed, over 70% of the world’s population breeds in the Falkland Islands!)
It was a spectacular experience – spending the morning with tens of thousands of albatross chicks, with adults occasionally swooping in from their days-long fishing expeditions to find and feed their youngsters… all while Caracara birds kept a watchful eye out for any opportunity to make a meal out of an unwary or unprotected chick. Read on! and check out the gallery of photos and videos.
Continue reading “Steeple Jason Island – Falkland Islands”Two days from the Falklands to South Georgia – and two days back again.
It is a looooong way to the island of South Georgia, even from the Falkland Islands. We spent a full day at sea sailing from Ushuaia Argentina to the Falklands, then two full days at sea sailing from the Falklands to South Georgia… and then reversed that trip on return.
Fortunately, our time at sea was not in the least bit boring! And, perhaps surprisingly, there were many things to photograph along the way. Read on!
My first-ever visit to South America!
Our trip was focused on the Lindblad / National Geographic cruise to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island, but to get there one must first fly to South America. We and our tripmates first convened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a quick tour and an overnight rest in a hotel, we were off again to the airport for a three and half hour flight to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego. Here we met up with our cruise ship, the National Geographic Endurance, for the two-week round-trip cruise. Before we take off, let me share a few highlights from Buenos Aires and Ushuaia.
David Kotz 