2025-2026 New Zealand Cruise- SubAntarctic Islands

We disembarked and were bused to our hotel in Queenstown. There were no flights to Santiago in the late afternoon so we need to spend the night here in Queenstown.

Before we could disembark we had to go thru ‘customs’ because we left Australia (our last island- Macquarie- was under control of Tasmania which is under Australia) and entered New Zealand (where the ship docked).  We walked to the lounge and they had two stations setup- we showed our passport and answered a couple of questions at the first station and then did the same thing at the second station and that was it.

Tibor and I stayed in our room until they called our group for customs and then went back to our room until they called our group to disembark. 

We walked off the ship with hugs from the staff/expedition  team and hopped aboard our bus from Bluff to Queenstown.  The bus ride was 3 or so hour plus the time for a potty stop.  This time we weren’t under a time crunch like to ride to Bluff so the potty break was significantly more than 10 minutes!  We arrived at our Queenstown hotel about noon and we were happy our room was ready and we could go to our room right away.

Jennifer and I collected laundry and went to the laundromat.  We had lunch during the wash cycle and after the dry cycle it was time to repack and rest for our trip to Easter Island.

Tibor went to hike up a mountain and picked up beer and pizza. Which we enjoyed while watching Match of the Day.

Our last day of the cruise is a day at sea. We will spend tonight onboard and disembark tomorrow about 7:30am.

This was the schedule for the day- wake up, eat breakfast, presentation, wait 20 minutes, presentation, eat lunch, wait 20 minutes, presentation, wait 20 minutes, eat a snack, presentation, wait 60 minutes, Captian’s cocktail reception, eat dinner, pack and finally sleep.

During one presentation, the audience rushed out 3 times to see Dusky Dolphins. I got a very short glimpse of one diving down.

Another fun event filled day- Tibor did an all day hike to the top of Mt. Honey. I kayaked in the morning and went on the Col Lyell boardwalk hike.

The kayak was about 6 kilometers and we were out on the water about 3 hours.

Tibor’s hike was about 10 kilometers and he was out about 9 hours and had to take a lunch and poo bag with him. He hiked to the top of Mt. Honey- the highest point in the southern ocean. There were about 18 people in the group.

The Col Lyell boardwalk hike was about 5 miles. It was about 2 hours up with 700 feet of elevation gain on the way up and 1 1/2 hours and 700 feet of elevation drop on the way back. It was very windy at the top- it would have blown me over if I was a small person. There was a little rain squall on the way up and a few drops of rain on the way back but otherwise quite pleasant. I had to remove 3 layers of clothes since I thought it would be very cool and rainy.

Before dinner the ship cruised past Bull Rock where there is a colony of 27,000 Campbell Island Albatross nesting. Amazing- looked like the hill was frosted with snow.

Photos from the kayak trip:

Photos from the Col Lyell Boardwalk hike:

Photos from Bull Rock:

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.

We anchored overnight at Macquarie Island and in the morning we did another zodiac landing at Sandy Beach to enjoy the penguins and seals.

After returning and having lunch, the ship cruised down the lee side of Macquarie Island and we enjoyed the views and the swimming/porpoising penguins. It was especially interesting to see the penguins swimming under the water- the water was so clear you could see them from the ship.

Photos from the zodiac landing at Sandy Beach:

Views and swimming/porpoising penguins on the ship cruise:

What a day today- so many penguins, so many different species of penguins, so much activity, such an amazing time.

This will be a photo rich entry as the morning adventure was as good as a full day and the afternoon adventure was as good as another full day!

In the morning we went on a zodiac landing at The Istmus. It’s part of the Macquarie Island World Heritage Site. We had a nice walk to see the Gentoo Penguins, the Elephant Seals, a few Royal penguins and a walk up the hill for a great view.

In the afternoon we went on a kayak, or at least we tried to go on a kayak. About half the group loaded onto their kayaks and started paddling. One went off to the left and Kate, the guide, kept calling to them to head towards the beach. One went off to the right and Kate kept calling to them to head towards the beach. Tibor and I headed out to the ocean and Kate kept calling to us to head to the beach. At that point Kate called everyone back to the zodiac and cancelled the rest of the kayak. The wind was pushing us all over and could have pushed us past the point into rocks.

After we got back to the ship and changed clothes we went on a short zodiac cruise to see the Eastern Rockhopper colony and then landed at Sandy Bay to see the King and Royal penguins as well as Skuas, Giant Petrals, a Megaherb bloom and Elephant Seals.

While we were having dinner, there was a sighting of an Orca. Everyone jumped up from their dinner table and rushed to the windows. It was pretty dinner to see everyone run from side to side and outside to see if they could see it. I just caught a glimpse of a fin- not the best view.

Photos from morning adventure at the ithmus:

Photos from kayaking:

Photos from the afternoon cruise:

Photos from the afternoon landing:

Back on ship- photo taken during dinner:

Today we got to rest and learn. It was a sea day so no excursions. Instead we had a number of presentations and got to watch the albatross and birds flying on the open ocean. It’s 300 nautical miles to our next stop- Macquarie Island.

Random info from presentations:

• Frigate birds can fly for months without landing- they napp in the air and can shut down half their brain at a time
• King penguins can dive 500+ meters deep and they can hold their breath for 20+ minutes
• One penguin can turn off it’s stomach processing so it can bring back unprocessed food for their chicks
• Today we past south into Australian territory
• 2-3 million penguins were boiled/killed and rendered into oil between 1810 and 1918. 2000 penguins a day could be ‘processed’ and with better equipment up to 3500 per day could be processed

Tibor went kayaking today but I was so tired from yesterday’s kayaking that I did a zodiac cruise. Originally the kayakers were going to leave at 7am and return at noon. They ended up going from 8:30 to 11:30- a much shorter time and distance than yesterday. I was still glad I took the zodiac cruise to Musgrave Inlet because I saw and photographed many Eastern Rockhopper penguins and the endemic Auckland Island shag. We also took the zodiac into a dark cave and an open lava tube.

After lunch and after the ship repositioned to Carnley Harbour, Tibor and I went on a zodiac ride. It was the first time we had typical Southern Ocean weather- it was a bit windy, chilly and rainy. We were happy we went on the zodiac ride except that Tibor’s video camera stopped working- it no longer even powers on.

Afterwards the ship did a short cruise up to Figure Eight Island to see the historic ship wreck sites. The book “Islands of the Lost” was recommended. It’s the true story of the shipwreck of the schooners Grafton and Invercauld. Captian Musgrave’s crew (Grafton) built tools, a cabin, and escaped, while the Invercauld crew collapsed into chaos and cannibalism and only three survived. 

We watched the seabirds around the ship as we sailed to Enderby Island. When we anchored I was so happy to see so many Yellow-eyed penguins on an nearby island. We didn’t zodiac or kayak near that group but we saw a few of them elsewhere.

Today Tibor and I got to go kayaking. We ended up going quite a bit longer than we expected and we were both tired by the time we finished. We were out about 4 hours and had kayaked over 11 kilometers. The sad part for me was that I couldn’t photograph the penguins. I didn’t bring my big camera because I was afraid it would get wet and my GoPro can’t zoom in.

It’s a good thing I didn’t bring my camera because the first thing I noticed after Tibor and I were in the kayak for a little while was that my dry bag had fallen off the kayak. Luckily there wasn’t too much in it and it was floating. If my camera would have been in it, it would have sank. The ocean was also pretty calm so we could see it and we used the time to figure out how to steer the kayak. The kayak used pedals to turn. I never did get the hang of it but we did retrieve the dry bag.

We had a seal follow us for a bit and another seal charged one of the other kayaks.

One zodiac takes the kayakers out to the kayak spot and a second zodiac takes the kayaks. The kayakers load into the kayaks from the zodiac and then it returns to the ship. The other zodiac follows the kayakers around. If you get tired you can rejoin the zodiac and follow the other kayakers. Once kayaking is finished, a zodiac comes back out for the kayakers and the kayaks are pulled behind the other zodiac.

We got back after the official lunch was over but they kept the dining room open for us.

Right after lunch we had the opportunity to take a zodiac to the Enderby Island landing spot where we could take a walk on the boardwalk. It was such a fun walk- we had good birds along the way and saw a Southern Royal Albatross on a nest just a short distance from the boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk (on the other side of the island from the landing spot) we took a short trail to an overlook where we saw the Light Fronted Dusky albatross on its nest. There were lots of albatross flying around too.

The plants along the trail were beautifully colored. We saw the Megaherbs- which I thought were huge plants that were herbs but nope, they are really plants with colorful (maybe large) flowers!

On the way back I surprised a Yellow-eyed penguin on the boardwalk. I was super excited to see it up close but it was just a glimpse since it left the boardwalk almost immediately.

There are regulations and trail cameras to stop folks from walking up the beach or across to the trail when there are penguins present. There was no concern about sea lions. The first zodiacs to land had to wait for a while for penguins to leave before they could disembark and start walking. We didn’t have that problem.

There were lots of sea lions (Big males, smaller/paler females and tiny babies) on the beach at the landing site. The males were snorting and charging at other males to defend their territory. The sea lion population has decreased rapidly in recent years- some of it is because of a bacterial infection. They are doing a study to see if pups can be vaccinated against it. The pups that have had a vaccination shot are marked with a ‘little cap’. There are a couple of pups in the photos below that are wearing the ‘cap’.

I didn’t go back on the zodiac immediately as I was hoping to see the yellow eyed penguins walking around and I got lucky- one came just as we were ready to leave.

Our first stop of this cruise was Snares Islands and I was hoping to see the Snares Crested Penguin.  First thing after we arrived about 7:30am I went outside to see if I could find the penguins.  I was in luck- someone told me where to look and there they were!  At quite a distance, I saw many white bits that turned out to be penguins walking up and down the mountain.  Seems like such a strange spot for them.

Same as last cruise, we signed up for a group but since Tibor and I were kayaking, our group was predefined.  We’re actually part of two groups- the kayakers and the Sea Lions.  We had a kayak meeting to cover more details.  We did not end up going kayaking today as the conditions were a bit too rough.

I was happy to go on the zodiac cruise instead because I got to see the penguins close up.

After the zodiac, all passengers went thru bio security where all dirt, seeds, weeds, and other bits were removed from any gear (clothes, jackets, pants, hiking boots, walking sticks, tripods) that would end up touching the ground.  The only area I had trouble with was the Velcro on my water resistant pants.  I had gravel bits in the soles of my hiking boots but it turns out that I won’t be using them and would use the provided mud boots instead.