Jan 8, 2026: New Zealand Cruise (day 9 Galapagos of the Southern Ocean) At Sea

Today we are at sea. We’re fortunate the ship isn’t rocking as much as we expected. We have 4 meter or so swells and since they are following us the ship feels more stable than it did with the 2 meter swells we had on the way to Macquarie Island.

So far we have seen 7 species of penguins on this trip- we don’t expect to see another species but you never know. We’ve seen:

  • Little Blue Penguin (Dunedin and on way to Heritage Adventurer ship)
  • Yellow Eyed Penguin (Dunedin in recovery center, Auckland Island)
  • Eastern Rockhopper Penguin (Auckland Island, Macquarie Island)
  • Snares Crested Penguin (Snares Island)
  • Gentoo Penguin (Macquarie Island)
  • King Penguin (Macquarie Island)
  • Royal Penguin (Macquarie Island)

Jennifer and I were excited to see that we would have an afternoon tea today. We really enjoyed them on our other cruises.

Afternoon tea- Diane’s plate- I had a light lunch in preparation for afternoon tea