My visit to Macquarie Island was on board an expedition boat organized by Heritage Expeditions to explore the subantarctic islands over eleven days in December 2022.  My main goal in joining as a passenger was to visit the Auckland Islands, which are described in their own chapter of the apart project.  

Our original, smaller vessel was impounded in Russia because of the war in Ukraine, so they made arrangements at the last minute for a different, larger ship, Heritage Adventurer, and we departed from Bluff, New Zealand on December 19th.  The greater room and level of comfort on this second ship was not my usual mode of travel, but I enjoyed meeting the other passengers on board, who constituted a mix of retired adventurers, photographers, scientists, bird watchers, and a few students on board as part of a scientific scholarship.  The expedition team members organizing our trip each had unique areas of expertise, and every day we were at sea, they held lectures on the biological, oceanographic, historical, and geological aspects of the islands we would encounter at each stop.  The professionalism and organization of both the crew and the expedition team greatly impressed me, and granted us the opportunity to see a diverse array of interesting things safely in such a remote part of the ocean.

After spending two nights and a day at a cluster of uninhabited islands known as The Snares, we headed straight to Macquarie Island to take advantage of an opening in the constantly shifting weather windows at those latitudes.  We were able to see the entire length of the island from the ship, cruising up the eastern shore, which was sheltered from the dominant winds and swell, and we stopped for a day each at Sandy Bay and the Macquarie Island Station.  We had filled out the necessary paperwork to land while at sea; having crossed into Australian waters, we had to deal with immigration and procure the necessary permissions to go ashore on such a highly protected island. Each morning we were taken by zodiac to the island to explore.  The weather in general was chilly and windy, and it could begin raining at any moment, so in addition to my camera gear, I always packed layers of clothes and wet gear in case it started pouring.