Trip Report
FAR NORTH PELAGIC - 11 JULY 2004
A group of us - Alan Emmerson, Derek Bettesworth, Gillian Vaughan, Ian
Southey, Ian Wilson, Detlef Davies, Wendy Hare, Nigel Milius, Arun and
Chris Gaskin - rendezvoused at Houhora on Friday night. The aim was to
head out from Houhora and try a couple of the locations east of North
Cape where we'd struck gold in May. But after a discussion with our skipper
Murray that night it was clear we weren't going to get out Saturday with
40kns SE and a huge sea running - about the worst possible conditions
for that stretch of the coast. We'd allowed for a Sunday backup day so
opted for stalking some of the local birding places, gecko hunting and
a bit of a tiki tour of the Far North: Mount Camel station with its superb
east-facing beaches, Parengarenga Harbour (Te Pua Point), Cape Reinga
and Tupotupotu Bay. Something like 45 species seen during the day with
the highlight probably the high-tide roost at Te Pua Point - esp. the
big flock of banded dotterel spread across a couple of paddocks. Alan
picked up 5 whimbrels from his campervan. Ian's gecko hunting became addictive.
Pleasant wanderings but frustrating - fine day apart from the wind and
the big sea. The wind died completely that evening and the sea looked
like it would flatten, so with the promise of getting out the next day
it was down to the pub for beers, a meal and watching the Pacific Islanders
give the ABs a good run for their money.
Sunday 11 July
Calm conditions clear sky, stunning morning. Left Houhora dock at 7.45AM.
SST 14C at the Heads. However, once we'd rounded Mount Camel and were
out in the bay it was clear a big swell was still rolling in. But we were
committed and started heading ENE to keep in the protection of Moturoa
Islands for as long as possible.
Soon picked up 100s of Fluttering Shearwaters and 10s Diving Petrels
with the occasional gannet. Also, a solitary Buller's Shearwater. Noted
the amount of fish life below the feeding flocks of Fluttering Shearwaters
(on the sounder). Also picked up a couple of Blue Penguins. Further out
starting adding Fairy Prions in increasing numbers.
At the 100m line picked up the first albatrosses - White-capped Albatross.
SST was up to 15.9C.
Noticeable that the Fluttering Shearwaters and Diving petrels dropped
away by this point. From here to the 200m line: Fairy Prions 10s but scattered
in little groups; Cape Petrel, another White-capped Albatross; but fairly
quiet.
By this time the wind was up a little (SE 5-10 kns) but the sea was massive,
we were clear of the Moturoa Islands and Cape Karikari and open to the
SE swell.
From 225m (SST 16.6C) we made a few legs running with the sea and zig-zagged
out towards our target location to make for a gentler ride and ease a
couple of turbulent tummies. It was a bit unfortunate that it meant it
took longer to get out to where we wanted to be but it was worth the easier
ride. Most of us managed to enjoy our lunch.
In terms of birds still quiet with a handful of Cape Petrels, Fairy Prions,
NZ Black-browed (Campbell) Albatross, Giant Petrel and a couple of Little
Shearwaters before picking up our first Grey-faced Petrel. From previous
trips we'd learnt that G-f Ps would be out towards the edge of the shelf
at this time of day and are quite a good indicator for picking up other
interesting birds.
We reached our chumming location just after lunch. SST 17.7C. The depth
when we started chumming was just over 700m. With the wind and sea coming
from slightly different directions we had to settle for a very quiet idle
into the sea while chumming which, while not ideal, worked well on the
day. It wasn't long before we started to bring in birds.
Birds seen while chumming:
5+ NZ Black-browed (Campbell) Albatross
5+ Black-browed Albatross
4 White-capped Albatross
1 Salvin's Albatross
1 Snowy
1 Gibson's
5 Wandering (most likely Gibson's with nothing standing out to be absolutely
certain)
10-20 Grey-faced Petrels
10-20 Fairy Prions
10+ Cape Petrels
2 Giant Petrel - one close enough to ID as a Southern Giant Petrel
Chummed until about 3.30PM before starting back in with a very pleasant
ride more-or-less with the sea. Great viewing from the foredeck (very
much Derek's haunt) with some Little Shearwaters coming close across the
bow. Good to have them neatly separated from Fluttering Shearwaters -
the latter being predominantly in-shore along with Diving Petrels. For
the rest of ride it was basically a rerun of the birds seen on the way
out but in reverse order. We were back in to Houhora Harbour right on
dusk with a great sunset.
While it was clear it would be hard to match in one day what we'd achieved
over two and half days last time (21-24 May 2004) it was a great to get
out on the water.
It does mean in future we'll be organising some weekend trips from Houhora
with the possibility of going north and east of North Cape and up to the
Three Kings (Late November or early December, late January and March).
For anyone interested we'll post dates of these cost-shared trips on our
website.
--Chris Gaskin
Pterodroma Pelagics - Hauraki Gulf Seabird Tours
|
