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These islands are a gem in the sub antarctic ocean. They are a unique
place, that only exists in this part of the world, away from the hands of
man, where the creatures and the birds are left in peace to live the way
they have for centuries. The team were glad to anchor the Calypso to these solid lands as there
are many violent storms we have had to endure during other expeditions
in this area of the globe. This is an area of the world where the storms of
the polar regions sweep across the ocean unstopped by the nuance that
are the specks of land amid a vastness of ocean. The violence of the storms
never seems to cease as these powerful cyclones circumnavigate the
southern ocean undisturbed. It is these small islands, such as the one
we are at now that bear the brunt of the ravaging storms but provide an
essential resting and breeding place for the creatures of this southern
ocean, as they were now doing for us. There are millions of birds that
fly the southern ocean, some very large as with the albatrosses and other
quite tiny as with the small prions, each of these needs the sanctuary of
the land for breeding at least.
We do not have to wait long after our arrival, or even to seek the wild
life as it is first to come to us. Before we have hardly entered the small
bay, there are seal lions in the water that surround the ship in play at the
curiosity of the ship and our arrival. They swim out through the clear and
calmer waters of the bay we have anchored in, diving deep below the
ship, racing across the surface and breaking the water with an explosion
of air for another breath. They seem to enjoy our presence and almost
seem to call us to come and play with them. Without delay the team are
prepared for diving as it seems their inquisitive nature is at a height on
our arrival and we are attracted to film their play while they are here
and their curiosity is at a height.
These are great creatures large and fast in the water, we are in their
domain and surrounded mainly by juvenile males. Initially, we approach
with some care and curiosity as they have very strong and sharp teeth
that could inflict a nasty gash, though the accounts of this happening to
divers in the water are very few. They speed towards the team under
the water and in the last possible second veer off into the murk of the sea
beyond our sight. The line of bubbles from our tanks excites them as
they speed through the waters around Pieere and Michelle. Their play
is always ahead of the divers and you can't help feeling that we are
toys for them to enjoy, a way for them to pass the morning.
Unfortunately, these wonderful creatures were almost hunted to
extinction in the early part of the 19 century for their skins and oil and
have only recently begun to recover in any significant numbers so that
they may be safe in these islands for everyone to enjoy in the future.
The isolation of these islands may afford them some protection, but there
is still the threat of indiscriminate fishing that can snag and cause the death
of many of them each year. Perhaps it will be public pressure as well
as the isolation and the laws of the government that may protect these
creatures for time to come, but it is all to certain that many have died this
way over recent time. We must also learn to fish in a way that we can
share the bounty of the sea without disrupting creatures such as
these if they are to truly survive.
After half an hour filming the team feels more relaxed and able to
interact with the sea lions who have become very excited and inquisitive
at our interest in them. They show greatest curiosity for our cameras and
there is no problem filming, except they often come too close for the
focus of the lens. The reflective surface of the lens is too much for them
to resist and they come time after time right up to the camera. The activity
between us reaches a peak after an hour and the team has to come
aboard for a meal and the warmth of the cabin. There are few blue
skies in this place and as much as the wind is cold, the persistent
greyness is quite chilling to
the mind.
In the afternoon, we landed in the inflatable Zodiacs with the intention
of visiting the Mollymork colony which was in the height of the breeding
season. The young chicks had just hatched and could only be but a few
days old. You have to walk with care on the island as there are other
small prion that nest here in borrows and it is easy to break through the
turf and cave in their burrows. It is hard to tell, but there was another
small creature that scampered off into the tall tussocks and some of the
party though that it may have been a rat. No matter how we searched,
we could find no trace of the small creature to confirm our suspicions.
If this was so, and there was a rat on the island, it could have a serious
effect on the balance of the island wild life as this is an island that is
considered to be rat free. We would later report this to the authorities
back in New Zealand even though it was some way out of our schedule.
We all felt there was a duty to report such a sighting as soon as possible.
These are all rat free islands and some are free even from mice. It is to
the credit of the violence of the storms that lash this part of the world
that no rat had survived the cruelness of the ocean during one of the
many ship wrecks that had occurred over the late part of the 19 century.
Indeed, the very bay we weathered this storm was marked on the chart as Castaways Bay on Disappointment Island 
and this small island had been the scene of a disastrous
shipwreck and the struggle to survive for the crew 
. Yet here may be a
vermin free island where the balance of nature has existed
unchallenged for centuries.
It is important that the island remain in this balance and perhaps these
islands need more protection than the reserve status that the New Zealand Government has place upon them. For our landing here, was by chance,
as we intended to head further south towards the even colder waters of the antarctic and the decision to research these islands was quite at the last
minute. We had not the time to arrange the necessary papers and are
really here unknown to the authorities. We have seen no other vessel in
our time here and our stay and landing could just as easily been by any
ship that may have had no understanding of the venerable eco
system of this island.
During the evening there are extreme gusts of wind with rain driving in and
pouring down on our craft. We were all glad of the decision the day
before to attach firm lines from the ship back to the shore, for there was
some doubt as to weather even a good anchor or could have held fast our
small ship in this storm. We could feel the ship move through out the night
and were very glad of these thick lines that ran from both the bow and the
stern to a secure hold on the islands. This bay is not really a bay at all and
hardly more than a small depression in the steep cliffs that rise around the
entire island and as such offers little protection from the ocean.
Next morning, the wind was just as strong as during the night. Every so
often there would be stronger squalls sweeping in to swirl around the
ship in a barrage of hail or heavy rain. These would only last a few
moments but were very intense. As we the team sat here in the ships
mess at breakfast, we could feel the vessel swing on her moorings and jerk
hard as she reached the end of each tether, before she would swing out
towards the other line. We were in the lee of the storm in this bay and could
hardly imagine the true violence of the storm outside in the open ocean.
We decided to cast off from this bay and unlike the day before, as there
were few seals around we left unnoticed. Casting off from such a place
in winds that strong was no easy task and but we had decided to seek
the better shelter of the bays on the other large island. Here, there was bush and real shelter from the winds that blew at the
Calypso during the night before. It was much more of a harbour where
we could anchor with ease and know we were safe from the worst
weather that these oceans can offer. The wild winds that blew on the
others side of the island could only raise a few swirling ripples on the
surface here from the sudden extreme gusts that bounced of the hills
on the way out to sea. Here, we were also greeted with our friends fr
om the day before, as another deputation of sea lions found the ship.
Playful as ever under the boat they invited us to join them.
The young males spend some years apart from the rest of the group.
It is a time when they are no longer a pup and not yet strong enough to
stake a claim on the breeding beaches. They find a beach or bay of their
own and protect it for all their worth. We were able to spend more time ashore here on this island and found
the time to walk some of the rough tracks into the bush. We also had the
time to deal with some of the washing that inevitably seems to build up
on these trips. On the shore we burnt up as much of the rubbish that had accumulated on board over the past month or so as well. We spent several days in this bay before we left on
our way to New Zealand.
