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A Cape Town Pelagics trip left Simonstown
on Sunday 14 June 2009 guided by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Rob Leslie.
For the second weekend in a row
the Cape was hit by a frontal system and the weekend
pelagic had to be postponed to Sunday. However, unlike
last weekend (see trip report of 7 June 2009), the
weather was worse than forecast. We took a slow run
to the Point across a choppy False Bay encountering
the occasional rain squall hoping that the weather
would improve. After paying an early morning call
on the cormorant colony at Partridge Point we eased
up to the Point. Although very choppy, it didn’t
look too bad and we slowly headed out into the open
ocean. We were met with the customary flurry of Sooty
Shearwaters with a few White-chinned
Petrels, Shy Albatross and
the regular Manx Shearwater.
We continued heading out, making slow headway into
the big chop passing two feeding flocks – mainly
Swift Terns and Cape Cormorants.
At about 8 nms off the Point we started seeing Antarctic
Prions, then a couple of Black-brows
and a Northern Giant Petrel. After
stooging around and trying a bit of chumming we decided
to call it a day and run for shelter ahead of a looming
rain squall.
False Bay
Southern Ostrich 2
Jackass Penguin
Cape Gannet
Cape Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
Crowned Cormorant
White-breasted Cormorant
Subantarctic Skua 4
Kelp Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Swift Tern
Egyptian Goose 3
Black Oystercatcher 4
White-necked Raven 2
Shy Albatross 20
Black-browed Albatross 2
Northern Giant Petrel 1
White-chinned Petrel 100
Sooty Shearwater 200
Manx Shearwater 1
Antarctic Prion 40
Cape Gannet 20
Sub-antarctic Skua 2
Trip report by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Rob Leslie.
A message from Cape Town Pelagics:
A huge thank you to our experienced skippers who are
able to safely lead us to the best birding areas and
skillfully manoeuvre the boat into just the best position
while all on board are busy concentrating on the birds!
Coordinating a pelagic trip over a year in advance
with guests from all across South Africa and different
countries around the world requires an organised office
team. We thank them for their special eye for detail
- and for the sometimes last-minute rearrangements
and frustration if the weather delays the trip to
another day! Our biggest thank-you is to our Cape
Town Pelagics guides who take time out of their work,
often involving seabirds and conservation, and time
away from their families, to provide our guests with
a world-class birding experience. Cape Town Pelagics
donates all it profits to seabirds, and so all the
participants who join the trip make a contribution
towards bird research and conservation - a big thank
you from all of us.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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