Our Macquarie Island holidays & tours
Our Macquarie Island holidays are an otherworldly experience. An island only reachable by small expedition cruise, Macquarie is home to millions of penguins, including the endemic royal penguin, clusters of extraordinary flowering ‘megaherbs’ and marine mammals including southern right whales and leopard seals. You’ll sail to some of the world’s most remote and wild landscapes, hopping on and off to explore entirely unfamiliar surrounds. Our holidays keep your group size small to keep your impact on this island low, and our partners have even helped develop the wildlife watching guidelines that keep the island’s precious penguins safe. After all, this wild landscape is their only home in the whole wide world.
New Zealands Subantarctic Islands cruise
Wildlife voyage to the Subantarctic inc Macquarie Island
From
US $10490 to US $11050
12 days
ex flights
Contact Us
Call us for a chat about our holidays. We are happy to discuss your holiday and help in any way we can. No bots, queues or awful hold music.
01273 823 700
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Macquarie Island highlights
In Macquarie Island and its surrounds there are no roads, only directions. How wonderfully liberating. Known for its tumultuous personality, the Southern Ocean plays to its own rules and though your ship will move on between islands, you will do so to no other timetable than Nature’s own. Sleeping onboard and moving between islands and every day or two, you’ll be hopping on and off the boat as well as viewing from its decks. Your captain and tour leader have a brilliant knowledge of the ‘routes’ available and will ensure you reach as many incredible places as possible - remaining safe while you do so.
Birdlife
1. Birdlife
An isolated and oceanic island, the birdlife on Macquarie is made up of seabirds, mostly in the form of the ‘big three’: penguins, petrels and albatrosses. Not accustomed to humans and utterly unbothered by them, you’ll find yourself in a ‘penguin city’ as four breeds go about their business, chattering around you, and if you’re lucky, you’ll spot four different species of albatross nesting along the cliffs.
Life at sea
2. Life at sea
Far from being stuffy, or cramped, life on an expedition vessel is a massive part of the fun – you’ll share social spaces like the library, lounge and lecture rooms with your fellow passengers, but comfy sleeping quarters range from triple sharing cabins to swanky suites with private lounges and bathrooms. Food is prepared by top chefs and there’s a bar too – what more could you want?
Macquarie Island
3. Macquarie Island
Dubbed ‘one of the wonder spots of the world’, Macquarie Island is the only home of the magnificent royal penguin, who is joined here by king, gentoo and rockhopper penguin species – the sound of their enthusiastic chatter is really quite something! Meeting with scientists and park rangers, you’ll also discover hundreds of Southern elephant seals that loll about on the beaches.
Meeting the experts
4. Meeting the experts
A Macquarie Island trip is as much about understanding your surroundings as it is about gaping open-mouthed at its beauty. Engaging, open to discussion and absolutely brimming with fascinating knowledge about Macquarie, meeting the scientists and researchers who have devoted their lives to finding put what makes this incredible island tick is a riveting and integral part of the trip.
Wildlife
5. Wildlife
A Galapagos of sorts, Macquarie Island and its surrounding Subantarctic Islands are home to some of the most plentiful and diverse wildlife on the planet. You’ll meet all manner of pilfering penguins; spot Southern elephant seals, of which there’s an estimated 11,000 on Macquarie alone, and seek out New Zealand sea lions, the rarest and most endangered of the 5 species of sea lion worldwide.
Zodiac cruises
6. Zodiac cruises
You’re not confined to your vessel on a Macquarie Island expedition – far from it; besides almost daily opportunities to get off the boat and explore on foot, you’ll also be treated to zodiac cruises wherever the weather allows. Zippy, inflatable boats that carry 10-12 passengers, zodiacs are a brilliant fun and exhilarating way to reach far flung spots and get right up close to your seascape.
Our Macquarie island holidays reviews
5
1Macquarie island holidays reviews
Enrico Roche16 Dec 2023
A unique opportunity to experience uninhabited (humans) wilderness..."Out of the ordinary world"read more
