Hi Alan
I can’t help you with the Petrel situation, but as an experienced diver of this area I thought I would chip in with a few points. Apologies if this is just stating the obvious, but hopefully it may
assist someone on the chatline.
- The Coral Expeditions boat claims it will traverse the SW coast to Port Davey. I would be asking how many times a year this occurs on a planned
trip. You would need freakish conditions in the Southern Ocean for a small ship to make this a feasible/comfortable trip. Competition grade big wave surfing is a genuine pastime in this part of the world.
- The distance from Eaglehawk Neck/Tasman Peninsula to the drop off is about 15km. This is why it is so good for bumping into offshore pelagic
creatures both above and below the water. It is not uncommon to dive off the Tasman Peninsula and have albatross escort the boat back to Eaglehawk for a few km.
- The distance to the drop off blows out to about 60km along the southern part of Tassie until you get to the SW tip (just before Port Davey)
where it once again is about 15km. This is over 100km of “shallow” water to traverse, between good pelagic sites. If I was driving a small boat in Tassie, I would be sticking to the coastline like vlecro, so I suspect the pelagic component would be a distant
pipedream for this portion of the trip.
- The cynical view. Port Davey is an epic long trip from Wineglass Bay. If I was a businessman I would be very reluctant to burn that kind of
fuel load, when I can simply buzz up and down the East Coast with the dolphins to keep the punters happy and then around to Hobart to see the usual sights. I just had a 5 second flick through some online reviews and couldn’t see anyone who made it to Port
Davey recently.
- The greyed out distribution map of the Grey Petrel on this site, is exactly where I suspect the boat won’t be taking you, due to weather ;)
http://www.birdsindanger.net/pdfs/Grey%20Petrel.pdf
Cheers
Phil Malin
From: Alan Cowan <>
Sent: Sunday, 9 December 2018 12:16 PM
To: canberrabirds <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Grey Petrel
Is anyone able to help me with information on Grey Petrel sightings around southern Tasmania in the summer? I know they have been seen occasionally on the Eaglehawk Neck trips, which appear to be booked out. I note that Coral Expeditions
do a one week trip around the Tasmanian southern coast and I wonder if there is any likelihood of seeing the bird. It is the one Southern Ocean seabird I have yet to see!
Any thoughts would be most welcome.
