Southern Ocean / Subantarctic Islands

[3113Timmy]

Has anyone been on any expedition-type small ships to the Subantarctic Islands? Heritage Expeditions in New Zealand do lots of trip down to the Subantarctic Islands in New Zealand, although I've never had the holiday time or feel generous enough to go. I gather that ports of call often get cancelled due to weather. It's wet, windy and chilly to mild all year. (Case in point - one station in the Auckland Islands have never recorded a temperature under 35 or over 65.)

 

The only problem is seasickness... so trying to gather your experiences and advice...

[gogo65]

We were booked on the Ross Sea cruise with Ponant in January that was cancelled, currently waiting for 2024 itinerary’s to be released. The cruise includes the sub Antarctic islands, however they also do just a sub Antarctic island cruise, that may be worth looking into.

sorry cant help with weather.

[Devonian]

We went on Heritage Expeditions’ “Birding Downunder” itinerary in 2016 - visiting virtually all of New Zealand’s Subantarctic islands plus Macquarie and the Chatham Islands. The birding was amazing - as were the rough seas. Seasickness was less of a problem than falls and injuries with several broken limbs and one helicopter medevac due to a broken pelvis. None of the islands was missed although we couldn’t land on Macquarie despite two days trying. Top notch expedition staff and some exceptionally experienced birders among the other passengers - but you definitely need good sea legs and a keen interest in birds to enjoy this trip!