Subantarctic Islands: Cruising on the Ultimate Pelagic

These cruises are the ULTIMATE pelagics. There are simply no better trips on Earth for seabirds and seabirding. The New Zealand subantarctic islands offer the highest diversity of ‘tubenoses’ on the planet, and if you do the full itinerary you can expect to see well over 30 species. South of New Zealand, in a realm occupied only by the hardiest of souls, there is a string of islands that are rarely visited, and some of the wildest and most rugged on the planet. Sitting on the very edge of the Antarctic convergence, and in true Antarctic form, the creatures that inhabit these is-lands are legendarily extremely tame and approachable, often too much so, which results in truly awesome opportunities to get up close and intimate. An added bonus is the opportunity to get up close with these same creatures at massive breeding colonies, including a variety of albatross and penguin species. On top of this the Subantarctic Islands offer up a wealth of other Antarctic wildlife, from an abundance of cetaceans roaming the icy waters, to colonies of fur seals and sea lions, including another giant and formidable species, the impressive Hooker’s Sea Lion; or if you like your wildlife super-sized, how about the gargantuan Southern Elephant Seal.

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These voyages are of a truly expeditionary nature; they set out to reach seldom-visited islands like Macquarie Island and Campbell Island, by way of the Snares and Auckland Islands. On the longer trip, from Campbell we move on even further to the Antipodes and Bounties, visited just once per year by expeditioners, and then conclude with a visit to the Chatham Islands, where we search for two of the rarest seabirds on Earth – the Chatham Island Petrel and Taiko, or Magenta Petrel.

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Like any Antarctic destination these tours offer much for the non-birding partner and non-birding nature photographer; a wealth of wonderful landscapes awaits, as do some truly close encounters with Antarctic wildlife. No other tours offer the variety of penguins and seabirds possible on such a short cruise, thus boasting the highest diversity and numbers of seabirds of any of our tours. Penguins alone are represented by at least 8 species, whilst the albatrosses are represented by up to 15 taxa.