It was the shortest cruise ship visit of the season.
The vessel Spirit of Enderby, owned and operated by Heritage Expeditions, anchored off Taiaroa Head at the mouth of the Otago Harbour yesterday at 8.05am, and then ferried all its passengers off the 72m vessel, on to Pilots beach.
Heritage Expeditions spokeswoman Shirley Russ said the 47 Canadian passengers on board had disembarked from the ship in the harbour as they wanted to visit attractions on Otago Peninsula.
It was easier and quicker to anchor the ship off the harbour and ferry passengers to the beach by rubber dinghy than berth at Port Chalmers or Dunedin, she said.
The ship left Taiaroa Head at 9.18am.
The passengers were travelling overland and would meet the ship later in the month in Auckland. Heritage Expeditions is a Christchurch-based company that runs tours to the Antarctic and other southern waters.
Port Otago shipping services manager Hugh Marshall said it was uncommon for a ship to unload passengers after anchoring off the harbour and he could think of only one other occasion, more than 10 years ago.
Spirit of Enderby is an ice-strengthened Finnish-built vessel with a Russian crew and is capable of travelling up to 12 knots in Antarctic waters.
