Pelagic Voyage Story:
This morning at 7am we left on a pelagic trip with 12 people aboard a fast open boat (skipper says it will do 38 knots). Seas were slightly lumpy early on but it got better the farther we got from shore. In fact, on the return trip conditions were very good. The only fog we encountered was around 40 miles offshore, where we turned around. We went by Cleland and Plover Reefs first and then headed straight out. Unfortunately, we could not find a dragger anywhere, which was a disappointment, because that's usually where you find large numbers of seabirds.
Highlight of the trip was - an encounter with hundreds and hundreds of White-sided Dolphins. We succeeded in enticing them to race the boat, which they can do at something approaching 18 knots. We must have done that for 20 to 30 minutes in great big circles, and of course the passengers (and crew) went wild as these playful animals leaped around the boat, swam under the bow and generally had a whale of a time. Among them were also a considerable number of Northern Right-Whale Dolphins which we rarely see. If there's one thing a person should strive for in life it's to spend a half hour cavorting with dolphins. Of course everyone on board was enthralled.
On the return trip we got lucky once again when we encountered breaching Humpback Whales. At one point two of them surfaced simultaneously 15 feet from the boat.
Oh yea, birds. We did see some of those too. Highlights were probably the 3 South-Polar Skuas and 2 adult Pomarine Jaegers, plus the Buller's Shearwater close up on the way back. Fifteen Sabine's Gulls seen flying together against a blue sky were certainly exquisite. We saw no phalaropes whatsoever and few albatross but at least we did find a few. See below for a complete list. Numbers given are approximate as no one was actually writing things down as we went. My memory may be bad for remembering people's names but I can handle numbers reasonably well.
Harlequin Duck 15 Adrian Dorst. |
Heermann's Gull 300
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