SUMMARY: A relatively quiet trip in rough conditions. The best thing
about this trip was that we made it out and got out to the shelf break.
We travelled very slowly all day, which made the journey quite
reasonable. However, it was too rough for me to contemplate taking
photographs. The main highlights were the WHITE-CHINNED PETRELS,
GREY-BACKED STORM-PETRELS and BULLER'S ALBATROSSES.
VESSEL: The Pauletta with skipper John Males and a deckie.
OBSERVERS: Sue Abbots, Mike Bysouth, Martin Cachard, Rick Corsi, Nina
Davidson, Garry Deering, Xenia Dennett, Paul Dodd, Chris Lester,
Rosemary Lester, Jan Mulholland, Ross Mulholland, Bill Wakefield.
WEATHER: A fierce cold front passed over Tasmania on the Saturday night,
leaving a strong south-westerly air stream. The wind was a fairly
constant 25 - 30 knots all day from the SW. It was very cold with a few
showers during the day.
SEA: Very choppy with a 3 - 5 m swell and a sea of 1.5 m on the way
out. On the way back in, the swell was 3 m with a sea of 1.5 m.
ACTIVITY: Sailed at 07.40 EDST from Pirates Bay (PB). We went out past
the Hippolytes and then on to our first stop at the shelf break at 10.00
in 95 fathoms (16.8ºC) at 43º 02.865'S 148º 12.705'E, which was 13 nm
from PB. The birds were unusually responsive at the berley and we had
good numbers in the slick at this stop. Because of the conditions, at
10.30 we moved to shallower water. We stopped again at 43º 01.151'S 148º
05.736'E in 56 fathoms (16.4ºC) and berleyed from 11.40 to 12.05. Then,
because it was still quite rough, we slowly made our way back to the
coast south of PB and travelled north along the coast, arriving in PB at
13.30.
MAMMALS:
Common Dolphins.
Australian Fur Seals: At the Hippolytes.
BIRDS: 17 species of seabird observed beyond the bay indicated poor
diversity with low numbers of most species. Unless noted otherwise, all
listed below were near or beyond the shelf break (i.e. pelagic).
Highlights are in capitals.
Little Penguin: 1 inshore.
Southern Giant Petrel: 1.
Northern Giant Petrel: 1.
Fairy Prion: 6.
WHITE-CHINNED PETREL: 6.
Sooty Shearwater: 5 (2).
Short-tailed Shearwater: >1,000 (500).
Fluttering Shearwater: 2.
Hutton's Shearwater: 1.
GREY-BACKED STORM-PETREL: 30 (12).
White-faced Storm-Petrel: 8 (2)..
Black-browed Albatross: 3 (2). Race impavida.
Shy Albatross: 200 (50). Race cauta.
Yellow-nosed Albatross: 5 (2).
BULLER'S ALBATROSS: 20 (6).
Australasian Gannet: 100 (30). Inshore and on the Hippolytes.
Black-faced Cormorant: 1600. 100 inshore and 1500 on the Hippolytes.
Kelp Gull: 200. Inshore with 100 along the coast.
Silver Gull: 300. Inshore with 200 along the coast.
Crested Tern: 1. Inshore.
FUTURE TRIP IN 2008:
28 September (currently full)
30 November (spots available)
Regards
Chris
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