Land Ho! After a four day crossing from South Georgia excitement ran high on the Endeavour as the remote volcanic island of Gough hove into view early this morning. Ringed with near vertical cliffs and rising to nearly 3,000 feet, this spectacular outpost in the south Atlantic lies squarely in the path of the globe-circling winds of the roaring forties. Drenched in over 100 inches of rain per year by the storms carried on these winds, the island is lush with a beautiful and unusual plant community. Dense ferns cling to the cliffs and the sides of the steep narrow valleys, tall grasses spring up just behind the narrow rocky beach and groves of small, strange trees flourish here and there on the few level bits of ground. Overall the effect is rather as though the Na Pali coast of Hawaii had been uprooted and dropped down here in a climate more Alaskan than tropical.
Gough is a treasure as well, for it is one of the most pristine remote islands in the world. Very few introduced species have become established here and, particularly significantly, there are no rats or other predators. As a result this rugged tip of a volcano is a wonderful haven for breeding seabirds and a few unique landbirds like the Gough Island Flightless Rail. The winds were up during our visit, howling around the base of the cliffs, but this did not stop us from making a thrilling Zodiac tour close along the shore where we could enjoy the Sub-Antarctic Fur Seals thronging the beaches and discuss the volcanic geology close at hand. In fact the winds made the day even more enjoyable for those of us interested in birds, for the seabirds were out in force, hurtling along, inches over the waves, catching a gust to soar up into the skies above us, then gliding down again on long graceful wings. Fast, agile Atlantic and Soft-plumaged Petrels, fluttering, dancing White-bellied Storm Petrels, powerful little Yellow-nosed Albatross and, perhaps best of all, the slim and lovely Sooty Albatross. Like dark ash-gray spirits of the air, tilting and swirling on the ocean winds and showing a glint of a golden smile as they pass by at close range, these are surely one of the most graceful and beautiful of all seabirds.
After a crossing of the South Atlantic, any land is a welcome sight. But coming in to Gough, a sight few have seen, a place of innocence and wild beauty, was like coming home again.
