I have returned from my pelagic!

[XemaSab]

It was a pretty good trip. There were 44 people on the boat, and accomodations were... tight. We went 110 miles out. The birding was a little slow, but we picked up an okay list.

Here's what we saw. The best birds for the trip are starred.

Western Gull
Sabine's Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Heerman's Gull
Elegant Tern
Forster's Tern
Common Tern
Pomarine Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
Red Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
*American Oystercatcher
Black Oystercatcher
*Xantus' Murrelet
Cassin's Auklet
Sooty-type Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Pink-footed Shearwater
*Flesh-footed Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater
Leach's Storm-Petrel
*Red-billed Tropicbird
Black Brant

Ocean Sunfish
Minke Whale
Fin Whale
Mako Shark (spotted by yours truly!)
Sea Turtle sp.
Common Dolphin
White-sided Dolphin
California Sea Lion
Jellyfish
All possible tuna species

Again, it's a modest list, but there's some good stuff on there.

[semillama]

1. Great list!

Were any life birds for you?

[XemaSab]

2. Tropicbird was 620

The Oystercatcher was a state bird. :D

[Maestro]

3. All those shearwaters...wow!

And the murrelet must have been so cool not to mention all the other sea creatures.

[semillama]

4. Hey, I have some questions for you

Aside from the birding, how was the accommodations? You said it was a little tight. Could you talk a little more about how the boat is set up, food, sleeping quarters, etc? Isn't there some sort of special propulsion system? My friend Dan was supposed to be on that same trip but had to have emergency surgery on his gall bladder, so he missed it. Some of my birding friends want to know more about the trip.

[XemaSab]

5. Your friend must have been one of the two people to cancel at the last minute

By "a little tight" I mean that 45-50 people on that boat was a LOT of people.

There were four separate areas.

The hold was all bunks, stacked four high. Each bunk was 6x2x2, and that would have been bad enough as it was, but you also had to keep your stuff there. I really cannot understate the claustrophobia of the bunks. People above, people below, people on all four sides. Fortunately the waters were gentle so nobody was seasick. I brought a sleeping bag, which was a good idea since the bunks were pleather with a wool blanket on top, and since it was really humid the pleather would have been nasty to sleep on. I slept better than I thought I was going to, and I think most of the other people slept pretty well too.

The main deck wrapped around the bow and had a large stern deck with NO seating, but people brought folding chairs.

The cabin had a small galley and about 6 or so tables. When they were cooking in the main galley the cabin smelled like food, which did not go well with the motion of the boat. But the guy running the galley was nice, and pretty much fixed you what you wanted. Food for two days came to $30 bucks. The only beer on board was cheap beer, so BYOB.

Then there was an upper deck that the little people weren't allowed on.

There were two bathrooms, a men's room and a co-ed bathroom.

I spent most of the trip outside when I wasn't sleeping. My knee was not in good shape, so I sat on the boat bumper most of the time we were birding.

In short, you had to want to be there in order to want to be there. :P

And as far as the birding goes, it was slow but it could have been hot. Such is the way of pelagic trips.

Most of the people on board were hardcore birders. When there were no birds around, people just hung out and talked about birding. Most of the boat went to bed after dinner and got up at sunrise. I'm not used to being around that many people, so I spent some time hanging out on parts of the deck when there were no other people there just to have a minute to myself.

It was a good trip, for the most part, but it was not a "beginner" pelagic.

[tigereye]

7. were there kids on the trip? That would have been wild with such close

quarters. (and I like kids)

Where exactly did the boat go - what area - you are in Calif., right? One of the things I enjoyed most when we were in SF last year was looking at the bay birds... and other birds we East Coasters usually don't see.

[XemaSab]

8. No kids

It was out of San Diego.

We went 100+ miles out.

Most seabirds in California are MUCH closer in. :P

[tigereye]

9. you said little people, so I thought, holy crap -who would take kids on a trip

with that close quarters! :rofl:



Sounds like a cool trip, though.

[XemaSab]

10. Little people =

peons. :D

[dbackjon]

6. Very cool

But I could not have taken the bunks!

[Jamastiene]

11. I wish I could go on more bird watching trips.

I do love watching (and listening to) the birds. Don't worry about my cats. They stay inside only. Back at my old place, I did build them an outdoor playpen, but it was covered so birds could not get hurt. One pair of sparrows built a nest on the "roof" of the playpen. I was surprised.

In any case, paradise would be bird watching and wildlife watching, in general, to me.

Your trip sounds like it was excellent.