Comes the dawn at Macquarie Island and standing off the settlement since about an 0400h drop-anchor. Ship’s time was still running to NZ time, but Macca runs to Australian time, 2h behind. We had to wait until the folks ashore crawled out of bed.
And just to save
@RooFlyer the trouble of having to dust off his Geology for Dummies: Macca is geologically unique in being an uplifted exposed portion of the
Macquarie Ridge and is located where the
Australian plate meets the
Pacific plate. The island lies close to the edge of the submerged
microcontinent of
Zealandia, but is not regarded as part of it as the Macquarie Ridge is
oceanic rather than
continental crust.
It is the only place in the Pacific Ocean where rocks from the mantle are actively exposed at sea level. It also is the only oceanic environment with an exposed
ophiolite sequence. It is because of these unique geological exposures that it was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997.
A major pest vertebrate eradication campaign initiated in 2011 culminated in the island be declared rabbit, rat and mice-free in 2014. A fantastic effort.
Macquarie Island - Wikipedia Pests eradicated from Macquarie Island
We had to first stop off the ranger/research/BOM station to pick up three of the rangers before heading a few km further S on the E coast to sandy beach for a landing. We had an interesting situation in that one of the pax was the wife of a BOM staff member on the island and they had been apart for most of the year. So, along with the rangers, he came aboard to overnight during the 36h we were there. Much mirth around the ship!
BUT, poor sod, he got seasick even just offshore in the steady swell. Much pity for his wife added to the mirth!
Macca is famed for its massive king and royal (and is home to all these for nesting) penguin colonies and elephant seals.
Welcome committee of king penguins.
Heading off to collect the rangers – and check us through Australian immigration.
Moving S to Sandy Beach for a landing amongst a lot of kelp washed up by the recent unusual easterly storm. The dominant bull elephant seals (‘beachmasters’) had completed their work and had gone back to sea, leaving moulting females and juveniles.
The king penguins were also moulting, some were still incubating eggs and large chicks and fledging chicks were present.
A sensational day and perfect weather. I almost ran my camera battery flat!