20 Dec 2019

Cruising Lusitania Bay with Orca

Waking rested after a good night's sleep aboard Akademik Shokalskiy, which overnighted in the sheltered lee of Macquarie Island, we spent the morning exploring Macquarie Island Station with four rangers.

It was fascinating to experience their 'home away from home' and learn about what living and working on this remote outpost, affectionately known as 'Macca', involves. As luck would have it our visit coincided with the launching of a weather balloon which was followed by tea, coffee and scones in the station mess and discovering more of the local wildlife including Gentoo Penguins which were added to our penguin species list.

Returning to our trusty expedition vessel for lunch, we proceeded to Lusitania Bay at the southern end of the island. As we were sailing south along coast we enjoyed the company of a pod of Orcas, with great views of these graceful apex predators had by all.

While strong wind and high surf meant we couldn't deploy the Zodiacs, a ship cruise of Lusitania Bay provided views of the standing-room-only rowdy rookeries of King Penguins. With our Macquarie Island adventure over, we farewelled this remarkable island at 1700 hours and set our course for the East Antarctic shores of Commonwealth Bay.

Image from file © A.Breniere, Heritage Expeditions