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A lucky break in the weather on Sunday
5 September facilitated a Cape Town Pelagic trip out
of Simon’s Town guided by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Cliff Dorse. It was with much relief and anticipation
that we headed out into False Bay. As always, the
Peninsula Mountain Chain was bathed in spectacular
early morning light - this kept all on board entertained.
The wildlife highlight in the Bay was without doubt
the numerous Southern Right Whales
which gave great views.
We had our first good views of White-chinned
Petrels at the point. The scenic photographic
stop was further interrupted by two whales off the
port side of the boat. After a little while we were
rewarded with great views of two Humpbacked
Whales. We then headed off in a south westerly
direction towards the trawling grounds. The first
few miles were far quieter then usual and we only
encountered our first Sooty Shearwater
at about 4 miles off the point! Soon after this we
had our first Shy Albatross. It was
only as we got closer to the trawling grounds that
the species list started to grow. We soon picked up
our first Pintado Petrel followed
quickly by Sub-antarctic Skua and
Wilson’s Storm Petrel. We could
now see a trawler on the horizon and we made a beeline
for it. As we neared the vessel we encountered our
first Black-browed Albatross and
Southern Giant Petrel. At the trawler
the bird numbers were really impressive with large
numbers of adult Shy and Black-browed
Albatross in attendance as well as all the
pelagic birds mentioned above. We spent some time
in the deep working through the clouds of birds where
we were eventually rewarded with a single Great
Shearwater.
The prediction of the northwester picking up at around
midday was indeed accurate and by 12h00 the wind had
picked up to about 15 knots. We then decided to head
back towards the comfort of False Bay for our lunch.
The regular stop at the Bank Cormorant colony at Partridge
Point was successful and we had all four marine species
– White-breasted, Bank, Cape and Crowned
Cormorant .
Bird species seen - numbers are rough
estimations only:
Shy Albatross 250
Black-browed Albatross 50
Southern Giant Petrel 2
Pintado Petrel 200
White-chinned Petrel 250
Great Shearwater 1
Sooty Shearwater 100
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 40
Subantarctic Skua 10
Common Tern 8
Bird species encountered close
to the coast:
African Penguin
Cape Gannet
White-breasted Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
Crowned Cormorant
Kelp Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Swift Tern
African Black Oystercatcher
Mammals:
Humpbacked Whale 2
Southern Right Whale 13
Cape Fur Seal
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.
Trip report by Cape Town Pelagics guide Cliff Dorse.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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