Thanks for a very interesting report, Bill. I've often wondered what
it would be like trying to do some birding during a cruise. There are
some great tips in your report - particularly about the late dining
booking!
I've done the Bass Strait ferry crossing a few times, but haven't seen
many seabirds, despite sitting out on deck for all daylight hours of
the trip. I must do a daytime crossing next.
Can I take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful contributors
who make Birding-Aus such a valuable resource? I get plenty of people
thanking me for running it, but that's not such a chore given the
nature of the people who read the list and contribute to it. I'm also
helped enormously by moderators Bill Stent and Karen Pearson. We're
lucky to have such a generous community of birders who are willing to
share their stories and knowledge.
I wish you all a happy and blessed Christmas and a safe holiday period.
Happy birding everyone!
Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner
Geelong Victoria Australia
http://www.birding-aus.org
On 25/12/2008, at 8:17 AM, Moorhead Family wrote:
Merry Christmas folks,
With our eldest son in Africa, the rest of the family (including 2
non-birders) went on the Dawn Princess SYD to SYD via east coasts of
the North and South Islands of NZ (5th Dec to 18th Dec). We first
met landfall at Fiordland after 2 days at sea in fog from
Syney ,and then up the South Is etc, into Cooks Strait and then up
the North Is east coast finishing the NZ leg with stops at the Bay
of Plenty and Bay of Islands......To be honest, I wasn't really
expecting the pelagic birding to be much good. At 18 knots crusing
speed and 14 stories above the water line, seeing storm-petrels
appeared a forlorn hope!....Anyway, including gulls, shags etc ,
Jack and I saw about 60 seabird species in just over 2 weeks. We had
7 port calls which facilitated a few more land bird ticks, best
being NZ Dotterels breeding near Tauranga.
Pelagic and coastal cruising highlights included:
13 Kermadec Petrels on day 2 in the Tasman Sea
29 Fiordland Penguins on the morning of day 4 in the sounds of
Fiordland (we cruised Milford, Doubtful, Thomsen and
Dusky)....Weather was cool (10degC max) and showery....lots of
waterfalls though
24 NZ White-capped Albatross, 1 Buller's Albatross, another 30
Fiordland Penguins, 24 Cook's Petrels (with a flock of 15 next to
the ship at one time) ,4 Mottled Petrels, 3 Cape Petrels,580 prions
including at least 5 Antarctic Prions...and heaps of other
birds...on the arvo of the 4th day
46 Northern Royal Albatrosses amongst numerous other sightings on
day 5 (Close up cruise past Taiaroa Head), lots of shags and
shearwaters etc
2 Chatham Albatrosses as well as Westland Petrels on day 7 were the
highlights.....The T.eremita was the trip highlight with close views
of adult birds.....Birds of the trip for myself 3 westland Petrels,
2 Common Diving-Petrels and a single White-faced Storm-Petrel (new
for Jack), another Chatham Albatross and Black Petrel were day 8
(Napier) highlights
5 shearwaters (Fluttering, Sooty, Short-tailed, Buller's, Hutton's)
highlights of day 9 (Tauranga)
A tiny little recently dead floating upside down with legs in the
air of Common Diving-Petrel most noteable sighting on day 10
(Auckland)
3 Pycroft's Petrels, 2 Black Petrels and 2 Westland Petrels
highlight of day 11 (Bay of Islands) and hundreds of Buller's
Shearwaters........maybe the best looking shearwater
The 2 days on the way due west to Sydney was a petrel feast with 53
Black-winged, 21 White-necked, 3 Gould's (including one lighter one
that looked a bit different...but was Gould's in moult) ,85 Grey-
faced ,13 White-headed,1 Kermadec (light phase), 1 Black Petrel,1
Providence,1 Cook's, and other albatrosses, shearwaters etc. Even a
50 knot north-westerly wind didn't stop good viewing on such a huge
vessel (260m long and 40 m wide)
Some notes to report:
The promenade deck on this vessel was only about 15m above the
waterline offering excellent stable viewing (despite dozens of
joggers pushing past at any time....with many stopping and asking
stupid questions like.....we haven't you seen an albatross yet, have
you?...(looking might help!)
Limited daylight viewing on the boat between ports. I would
recommend choosing the later dining option for the evening meal (IE
8pm cf 6pm....we choose the early one for the kids....running in and
out of the formal dining room when a cookalaria flew past the port
holes was a nuisance!). Food was ridiculously fantastic every meal.
Alcohol was expensive and most wines were very average also. Buying
wine at ports and drinking them on the boat would have been a much
better option.
2000 punters means taking a LONG time to get on and off....Jack and
I missed the ferry to Tiri Tiri Matangi Is by 5 minutes. This was
despite the Dawn Princess having been docked for over an hour before
we could get off!
We didn't take any on shore tours...and made our own way around the
port areas....much better and cheaper....Couldn't work out why you
pay AUD150 per person to go on a dolphin watching cruise....we has
literally hundreds of dolphins (easily seen well) from the ship at
most ports .....best cetaceans being a large pod of performing
Striped Dolphins, many Common Dolphin pods, an Arnoux's Beaked Whale
in the middle of the Tasman (Simon , might like to talk to you about
that sighting)....also pilot whales, Minkes (including 2 loafing
around in Dusky Sound)
The cost to go on these cruises is really good value , especially
when you access the deals on offer.
Anyway, all in all a good relaxing 'family' holiday and excellent
for my wife , Jackie, who has been recovering from bowel cancer
surgery in August....Got home to find that Billy had a greast trip
in Tanzania and Kenya....climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and took lots of
bird shots for Jack to ID.....He also got an OP1 for his year 12
results (best you can get in Qld)...... Robin and Peter Marsh were
fantastic Sydney hosts for us for a couple of days.....sailing under
the Sydney Harbour bridge in Peter's yacht with Jack at the helm,
Jack getting Origma and Superb Lyrebird at Royal NP a great way to
finish the trip
Bill Moorhead
Bundaberg
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