14 December 2024 -New Zealand- South Island -Kaikoura
We had set the alarm for 7.00am as we had to have breakfast before we walked to the meeting place for our Albatross Adventure. We breakfasted at 7.30am which was nice as we met our other guests and could chat to Mick and Karen our hosts who were originally from the UK.
We walked out at 8.30am and were at the meeting place for 8.45am and we had 5 other adventure companions from the UK, Holland and NZ. Gary was our Skipper for the day and we went by minibus to the boat called Encounter 11. This was on a trailer and we boarded on the hard and a tractor took us down the ramp and into the water. Once in the water Gary started the engine and we backed off.
The boat was 30 foot and made of I think steel with a large doghouse and the engine was jet propelled and 300hp. We went out quite slowly from the ramp and out through a few port and starboard buoys and then Gary opened up the throttle.
Gary was in search of some fishing boats who throw out fish guts etc and this attracts the birds including Albatrosses. He had been out early this morning on another trip and had seen Albatrosses but said that we will not see the same Albatrosses as they will move on and could be miles away by now.
There are 22 different types of Albatrosses and NZ has 14 of these types and at least 50% of the total population of Albatrosses in the wild.
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. Great albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, with wingspans reaching up to 2.5–3.5 metres (8.2–11.5 ft) and bodies over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length.
Did You Know?
An albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird.
They can go years without touching land.
They can live and raise chicks into their 70s.
They mate for life, with some wiggle room.
They court each other with elaborate mating dances.
They can smell food in the water from 12 miles away.
Albatrosses can sleep while flying.
It takes about two months for a Laysan albatross to fly once around the earth. An albatross is known to fly 49,700 miles without touching land. Its long and narrow wingspans are used to ride the ocean winds. They perform specialized gliding techniques in order to minimize the use of muscles and energy. These birds can fly for many days high in the sky and do not flap their wings once.
Before taking off, an albatross needs a run up to allow enough air to move under the wings to provide lift. It is the most energy demanding part of a journey.
They are known as “nomads of the oceans”.
The short-tailed albatross feeds mainly on squid but will follow ships for their discarded offal. The black-footed albatross feeds in pelagic waters, taking the eggs of flying fish, squid and to a lesser extent crustaceans. It will also consume floating debris, including plastics. The Laysan albatross feeds predominantly on cephalopods, but also eats fish, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Albatross dive into the water and can reach five meters deep to get their food.
Like all albatrosses, the Laysan albatross is known to be a long-living bird. The oldest known live bird, a female named Wisdom, is 73 years old, is believed to have flown over 3 million miles and has hatched at least 36 healthy chicks.
The short-tailed albatross, from the North Pacific family, usually first breeds at 10 years of age. The black-footed albatrosses return to the colony after three years, and spend two years building nests, dancing and being with prospective mates, a behaviour that probably evolved to ensure maximum trust between the birds (raising an albatross chick is a massive energetic investment, and a long courting period establishes for both birds that the other is committed). They will start reproducing after about seven years, mating every two years.
Courtship for the Laysan albatross entails especially elaborate ‘dances’ that have up to 25 ritualized movements. The pair spends time building a nest together before they do the breeding process. Chicks spend four or five months staying in their nests while the parents search for food. Laysan albatrosses feeding chicks make foraging trips for as long as 17 days and will travel 1,600 miles (a straight-line distance) from their nest.
Occasionally, the birds form same-sex pairs consisting of two Laysan albatross females. This phenomenon has been useful to conservation efforts in the Hawaiian Islands, where researchers have successfully swapped unfertilized eggs from female-female pairs with fertile eggs translocated from pairs nesting on military airfields and in other unsafe nesting areas. The female-female pairs then hatch and raise the foster chicks.
We found a fishing boat a number of miles out and they were gutting fish and throwing it into the water. There were a large number of birds including albatrosses there and we put out from our boat some frozen chum -fish remains. For the next hour we enjoyed close contact with many Albatrosses -Northern and Southern Royals, Wandering, Laysan and Salvin. We also saw Giant Petrels who were quite aggressive to other birds. The Albatrosses are so graceful and have huge wing spans and they looked big like large dogs. The picture of the day is a scene with a number of Albatrosses, terns, gulls and Giant Petrels.
It was a lovely experience and so good to see these birds in the wild.
We then headed off to deeper water and on to an island near the cost which is a wildlife reserve. We saw lots of fur seals in the water and other birds including shags and gannets. We then headed back to shore and were taken back to base and our meeting point. It had been a great experience.
We returned to our lodge and chilled, caught up with admin and read and the went for an early supper.
We are going whale watching tomorrow so hope we will see some.
Stormbird
I had now heard Hallberg Rassy and from Transworld Yachts and they provided me with the rudder diagrams. Neither talked about horsehair packing. Transworld referred to a 62 where its rudder hit a rock and was pushed up but that pushed up the emergency tiller housing and the deck. I therefore collated all the material and did a long email to the marina manager and will wait for him to digest this and to agree a course of action on Monday morning.
Opportunity Year Two
In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.
If there is any interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com