04 Dec 2021

Explorations of Carnley Harbour

Cloaked in cloud, fog or mist, Spirit of Enderby slipped quietly into Carnley Harbour, anchoring close to Fairchild's Garden. By dawn the cloud was lifting offering glimpses of the top of Auckland Island tempting the intrepid to climb South West Cape for stunning views of the White-capped Albatross colony.

Less energetic guests enjoyed a Zodiac cruise through Victoria Passage to observe the colony from the sea, this was by far the best place to understand the geology of the islands with amphitheatres of laval flows standing strong against the southerly and westerly winds and seas as our majestic subjects wheeled in the sky above and sat atop nests.

Our Expedition Leader Chris Todd continued the exploration further around the South West Cape and then across towards Adams Island where we were awed by nature in the raw with stunning volcanic rock formations, faultline fractures, dikes and an incredible sea cave, the entrance of which had long been blocked by a rock tumble.

Back inside Carnley Harbour we cruised the shoreline observing Auckland Island Teal and the flowering megaherbs abundant in the area. Without warning the weather turned, cloud descended and the wind picked up. Our shoreline cruise cut short, we made our way to Tagua Bay where after a pleasant hike through mossed and lichen-covered Rata and Dracophyllum forest studded with orchids we reached the wartime Coastwatchers' lookout.

Image from file © C.Todd, Heritage Expeditions