TRIP REPORT
July 2001
Rob Leslie

On Sunday a group of 12 birders from the Orange Free State joined Anne Albatross Charters on Zest II for a day at sea with Alvin Cope, Ian
Sinclair, Barry Watkins and Rob Leslie as leaders. We had a pleasant tripacross the lake-like calm of False Bay, seeing White-chinned Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Subantarctic Skua and Giant Petrel on route to Cape Point.

This gentle introduction allowed the Vrystaters a chance to get used to the motion of the boat, before we rounded Cape Point to be met with big seas. The sea was still churned up from the wind of the previous couple of days and promised a wet ride home.

We headed in a westerly direction to about 30 nautical miles off Cape
Point in a vain search for a trawler. We stooged around in the vicinity of the Cape Canyon, where we had spectacular views of a juvenile Wandering Albatross in full "monkey suit." The young bird, only recently off the nest, was pretty curious and treated us to a number of really close fly-bys, providing some excellent photo opportunities.

A group of about 500 albatross (mainly Black-browed) was seen circling in the distance. We approached the birds but could find anything to explain their interest. We stayed with the birds for a few minutes then continued moving slowly northwards. After a while we returned to the group of circling albatross, and this time saw what interested them, a huge Manta Ray (Manta birostris) swimming so close to the surface that the tips of the pectoral fins were breaking the surface. This was the first time that anyone onboard had seen a Manta in Cape waters. Just before turning for home a second juvenile Wandering Albatross (this one with a white belly) put in a brief
appearance.

Once we started for home, we started taking the occasional spray over the bow. Given the sea conditions, this was expected and we braced ourselves for a wet ride in. However, the wind died away and the ride back was quite pleasant and relatively dry. Although we did not manage to locate a trawler, we still saw a good variety of seabirds. The much lower bird densities enabled those on board to concentrate on individual birds and all had a really great day.

Trip List

Wandering Albatross (juvenile) 2
Black-browed Albatross 500
Shy Albatross 200
White-chinned Petrel 150
Sooty Shearwater 70
Greatwing Petrel 5
Northern Giant Petrel 2
Southern Giant Petrel 1
Giant Petrel species 5
Antarctic Prion 50
Pintado Petrel 20
Wilson's Storm Petrel 30
Subantarctic Skua 10
Antarctic Tern 1
Cape Gannet 100 pelagic & many coastal
Kelp Gull coastal
Swift Tern coastal
Jackass Penguin coastal
Hartlaub's Gull coastal
Cape Cormorant coastal
Bank Cormorant coastal
White-breasted Cormorant coastal
Crowned Cormorant coastal
Egyptian Goose 1