EAGLEHAWK NECK BOAT TRIP - 21 November 2004
GROUP: Peter and Hazel Britton, Jim Cartledge, Gary Davidson,
Gil Langfield, Chris Lester, Marlene Lyell, Ross and Jann Mulholland,
Stuart Pell, Jen Spry, Bill Wakefield.
VESSEL/SKIPPER: Pauletta / John Males with deckie, Michael Males.
WEATHER: Fine, overcast with occasional sunny breaks in the
morning, cool, late showers. There was a brisk breeze of 15 knots from the
NW in the morning which eased to about 10 knots from the NNW in the
afternoon. (This was not what was predicted or what we expected as it
should have been a strong southerly.)
SEA: In the morning, no swell with small chop of 1m which
stayed through the day. (Again, nothing like what was predicted.)
ACTIVITY: Sailed 07.40. Headed SSE from Pirates Bay past the
Hippolytes to outside the shelf. Little activity on the way out. Berleyed
from 09.30 at the first stop (about 16nm from Pirates Bay and about 3nm
past the shelf) at 43(superscript: o) 05.72'S 148(superscript: o)12.76'E in
300 fathoms with water temperature at 12.3(superscript: o) C until 10.30.
Continued NE and stopped at 11.00 in 460 fathoms (12.2(superscript: o) C)
at 43(superscript: o) 01.54'S 147(superscript: o) 55.83'E until 11.30.
Headed N to 42(superscript: o) 59.52'S 148(superscript: o) 20.54'E and
stopped at 12.30 in 350 fathoms (12.1(superscript: o)C) about 20nm from
Pirates Bay. Left at 12.45 and started back, passing a trawler at 13.30
(but it had no birds with it at all). Returned directly to Pirates Bay,
arriving at 15.35.
MAMMALS: Australian Fur-Seals at the Hippolytes and around the
shelf.
BIRDS: A very quiet day on the water in terms of overall
bird numbers and species, with few interesting species. The weather was
much calmer than predicted and the wind was from the north, which was
unexpected and surprising to us as it had been predicted as a strong
southerly. We were anticipating good birds and good numbers as the weather
prior to the outing had had strong winds associated with it. But, the
numbers were very small, even the Short-tailed Shearwaters. The birds were
not hungry at all, so we had few behind the boat. And, except for the two
Royal Albatrosses, there was little else that was interesting. There were
no Storm-petrels and, in stark contrast to last year, no Pterodromas.
Little Penguin 9 (8)
Common Diving-Petrel 6 (3).
Southern Giant-Petrel 1
Northern Giant-Petrel 1
White-chinned Petrel 6 (4)
Sooty Shearwater 4 (1)
Short-tailed Shearwater 3500 (100)
Wandering Albatross 1
Royal Albatross 2 (1). 1 Southern and 1 Northern
Black-browed Albatross 4 (3)
Shy Albatross 20 (5)
Australasian Gannet 64 (53). 53 on Hippolytes.
Black-faced Cormorant 170 (140)
Pied Oystercatcher 5 (3)
Pacific Gull 3 (2)
Kelp Gull 40 (35). 35 on ledges.
Silver Gull 70 (60). 60 on Hippolytes.
Crested Tern 12 (4)
2005 Trips: 20 February, 18 September and 20 November
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