| The group of almost 100 eager
birders (including 13 guides) met at Cape Town harbour on
Thursday afternoon for the first tourist charter of the SA
Agulhas. We sailed shortly after 16h00 into a blustery, choppy
north-west storm. Shortly after leaving the shelter of the
breakwater, the ship was joined by the first Subantarctic
Skua, and thereafter there was a regular movement of Sooty
Shearwaters and White-chinned Petrels, with the odd Shy Albatross
and Wilson's Storm-Petrel thrown in for good measure. However,
it soon became too dark to see, and with the rain starting,
everyone retired for the evening.
The plan was to steam south towards Protea Sea-mount, a 1500
m deep pinnacle that rises almost 3000 m above the surrounding
sea-floor some 150 miles SSW of Cape Point. We were due to
arrive there an hour or so after dawn, but the seas became
progressively larger through the night, with winds of around
40 knots, so the captain slowed the ship and headed farther
west to reduce the ship's rolling. Despite this, few passengers
got a lot of sleep, and it was a rather glum-looking crew
that trooped down to an early 6h30 breakfast (those that weren't
feeling even sorrier for themselves).
The mood soon improved shortly after dawn, however, with
the arrival of the first Wandering Albatross, which joined
the White-chinned and Pintado Petrels and Black-browed and
Shy Albatrosses following the ship. A steady passage of Soft-plumaged
and Great-winged Petrels kept everyone enertained until a
Little Shearwater was spotted running level with the ship's
bow, and gave great views for more than 10 minutes. This was
to be the first of many seen, including groups of up to three
at once, with both pale- and dark-faced birds seen.
Soon after this excitement, a Northern Royal Albatross joined
the ship, and was quickly joined by a second bird. A juvenile
Royal Albatross then appeared, which was also thought to be
a Northern (the two forms are very similar as juveniles, with
dark wings, mottled backs and some spotting on the tail tip
- only the slightly broader leading edge of the underwing
on the carpal joint is diagnostic). We had barely recovered
from this when a Southern Royal Albatross also came in, and
this also was joined a second bird! Everyone had protracted
views of these birds as they repeatedly circled the back of
the ship.
Lunchtime saw a bit of a lull in the action, with the wind
dropping and the sea starting to calm down a bit. We continued
to steam SSW into the wind at a sedate 6-7 knots, and just
as a few people were contemplating a siesta, the cry went
out: "Sooty Albatross!". Unfortunately this bird
came in from the side of the ship, and then headed back in
the wake, which was now directly into the sun. Only those
who got onto the bird early were able to get satisfactory
looks, so attitudes aboard ship were somewhat polarised...
A few miles further on we stopped the ship to chum with a
lethal cocktail of whale and fish oil, in the hope of attracting
some interesting storm-petrels. We did pull in all the ship-followers,
and had great views of Soft-plumaged and Great-winged Petrels,
but the storm-petrels remained elusive. Just as we were about
to give up, however, a Sooty Albatross flew in and circled
the ship for about 5 minutes, even landing briefly on the
water. Needless to say everyone got great looks, increasing
more than ten-fold the number of people who have now seen
this species in SA waters! The final excitement of the afternoon
was a Slender-billed Prion, which appeared in the wake briefly,
but refuse to return even when tempted with the chum. We did
get good looks at a few Antarctic Prions though. Dusk saw
a very happy group of birders enjoying a braai on the helideck
of the Agulhas. Even the few people who'd suffered overnight
had recovered to see all the main birds, and the bar did a
brisk trade...
We headed north overnight to be within steaming distance
of Cape Town, and started the day 75 miles west of Scarborough,
still in 3000 m of water and on a much calmer sea. The early
morning was similar to the previous day, with regular Soft-plumaged
Petrels and even a single Little Shearwater, but the writing
was on the wall as we steamed towards the shelf and saw our
first Cape Gannet, and a little later were joined by two Kelp
(Cape) Gulls - flying in from the west!
Shortly after crossing the 1000 m contour, we were deluged
with gannets, and even a diversion to a trawler (which had
just pulled its nets and steamed off as we arrived) failed
to deliver anything too exciting. The best new birds for the
day were a white-phase Southern Giant Petrel (not easy to
find among the hordes of gannets), and a Manx Shearwarer that
followed in the wake for some time, but stayed well back from
the ship. Other birding highlights were a very tame Indian
Yellow-nosed Albatross that hung almost within arms-reach
of the helideck. Before crossing the shelf, we also had lovely
views of a nice selection of birds that came in to inspect
the oil chum, including a third Southern Royal Albatross,
which landed behind the ship, clearly showing the black cutting
edge to its bill. With the sea being much calmer, the chances
of spotting cetaceans increased, and we were joined by a large
pod of Atlantic Bottle-nosed Dolphins and Long-finned Pilot
Whales. Closer to shore we also saw a few Dusky Dolphins and
a distant pair of Southern Right Whales. We finally reached
port around 16h00, and spent a mellow hour sitting on the
helideck while waiting for the pilot to arrive.
On behalf of all the passengers aboard, we'd like to thank
the captain, officers and crew of the SA Agulhas for their
assistance and great service. Thanks also to the Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Smit Pentow Marine
for making the trip possible. We plan to have another deep-water
trip in May next year, and perhaps also a repeat in August. |
