The Obsession left from Hout Bay at about 8 am this morning, the harbour looked serene sheltered in its bay and we were all quite optimistic. I was bemused by the boat's name given how this birding year has become border-line obsessive.I was a bag of nerves though, the Obsession is a small fishing vessel and did not even have enough seating for the 10 of us on the boat. Drugged up to the gills I was seasick within the first hour and all I could think about was 'please let this be over soon'. It will have to be our last pelagic as Fred also suffers terribly out to sea. The weather was good, very little wind but the swells were huge, I got totally drenched and my body is still aching and bruised from bracing against the rocking and rolling of the vessel.
A few hours out of Hout Bay we came in close to a trawler and the volume of seabirds was quite spectacular, Pintado's, Gannets, Shy and Black-browed Albatross, White-chinned Petrels, Wilson's Storm-Petrels, almost too much to take in and certainly a life event. But forget trying to find rarities I was challenged just to be present.
Bruce did find us some new birds though, Subantarctic Skua, Northern and Southern Giant-Petrels and a very brief glimpse of a Great Shearwater.
Fred managed to take some photos:
...Pintado Petrels feeding behind the trawler and the ubiquitous White-chinned Petrel taking off...
....the impressive Southern Giant-Petrel right next to us surrounded by Pintado's...
...and a juvenile Black-browed Albatross with a smaller, captivating Pintado Petrel.
