Le Lyrial arrives at Gough Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, around 9:30am, to an island shrouded in grey mist. Only the very edge of this large island is faintly visible. The swell is strong and there are plenty of white caps, so I guess that’s the end of a zodiac cruise. There is no prospect of landing here, as it is a designated biosphere for bird breeding. Gough Island is one of the reasons why I opted to repeat the South Atlantic crossing I did in 2012, so seeing it is better than nothing.
The mist starts to lift, and Commandant Garcia announces that he is going to circumnavigate the island. We are lucky that the rising sun and some wind starts to improve visibility of the island. By the time we sail past the manned weather station, we have a reasonably good view of it.
The weather station is a quite substantial cluster of buildings, manned by South Africans under an arrangement with the UK Government. The bridge is able to rouse the weather station personnel, who inform us that there are currently 10 staff on the island, manning the weather station, conducting scientific experiments, and trying to count wildlife. Gough Island is so inaccessible that they are usually helicoptered or craned in from a ship.
There are many seabirds around the ship, including the endemic Tristan Wandering Albatross, that only nests on Gough Island. There are plenty of Greater Shearwaters, giant petrels, and yellow-nosed albatross.
The population of giant petrels have plenty of food, as I see three or four eating a dead rockhopper penguin in the water, and later another group are cleaning up a dead Greater Shearwater in the water.
The weather continues to improve, and Commandant ends up doing a 1.25 circumnavigation of the island, ending up back at the weather station after a couple of hours. Some of the station staff have come out to see Le Lyrial as she turns around and heads east to Cape Town.
The sun is starting to break through as we are leaving, lighting up the birds for some excellent albatross photography.
The wandering albatross follow the ship for some hours, with a few juvenile Tristan Wandering Albatross following as well.
