Given that we found 35 COOK'S PETRELS on the August 21 Monterey Bay Fall Seabird Classic trip, there remains a possibility that we might find them, again on our "standard" Monterey trips. Currently, we have openings on the following trips, all departing from Monterey: August 28 & 31; September 9, 11, 12 (albacore), 24, 25, 26, & 27; October 3, 4, 10 (albacore), 11, 25; November 28. All trips run from 7 am until 3 pm, except for the albacore trips which run from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm.
Trips from Bodega Bay with spaces available include: September 5, 16, 18, & 20; October 16. The September 5th trip is a Dedicated Cook's/Hawaiian Petrel chase trip, meaning that we will focus on finding those two species, and any other rare seabirds, totally for that day. All trips departing from Bodega Bay meet at 6:30 am and return 4-6 pm.
We have one trip remaining that departs from Fort Bragg on October 18th. The August and September trips have been canceled due to mechanical problems with the boat.
It is helpful to bear in mind that this could very well be a one-time event regarding the Cook's Petrels. These petrels are usually found more than 100 miles offshore. That they are so close to shore this year, is very, very unusual. In 35 years of offering pelagic trips from California, I have never witnessed an event such as this— Cook's Petrels within reach of a "standard" one day pelagic trip! It may not happen again. I would not count on this for next year. From radio tagging efforts, we now know that Hawaiian Petrels are part of our regular offshore species. Even so, we have already had fantastic sightings of this species this season.
Hoping to see you "out there",
Debi
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