08 Jan 2021

Penguins, Dolphins and Whales at The Snares

At 0530 this morning, as Spirit of Enderby approached The Snares, guests on our Unseen Fiordland, Stewart Island and The Snares voyage could see these remote, inhospitable rocky outposts were alive with Sooty Shearwater/Titi or Muttonbirds soaring over the island, gliding low over the sea and sitting on the water in great rafts.

An hour later we were in Zodiacs, surrounded by preening penguins, and watching a small pod of dolphins go by. A couple of New Zealand Fur Seals lay on a granite ledge, sleeping off their overnight fishing trip.

A haunting cry alerted us to a Buller's Albatross coming in to land on its mud nest on an outcrop above us; breeding Red-billed Gulls cursing and harassing it as it landed. We carried on through a sea-cave and around the island to the long granite slope affectionately known as the 'Penguin Slide' where scores of Snares Crested Penguins made their way from the forest on top of the ridge hundreds of feet down to the sea. Others were out on the water rolling and preening themselves.

As we were observing them a group would frequently decide to come ashore en masse, porpoising towards the shore before erupting from the top of the swell onto the rock-slope in a tumble of bodies.

Back on board our trusty expedition vessel, we noticed whales blowing as we crossed the deep sea-trench west of Foveaux Strait. As we got closer their distinctive blows and the dorsal fins revealed they were Sperm Whales. Later a large pod of Dusky Dolphins surged around the ship, and just as quickly disappeared.

We're now sailing north up the Fiordland coast on big gentle swells toward Milford Sound.

Images © C.Todd, Heritage Expeditions