The first tourist charter of the SA Agulhas, South Africa's Antarctic re-supply and research vessel, took place from 9-11 August. The trip was arranged by Cape Town Pelagics to raise funds for albatross tracking devices that will be deployed later this year on Marion Island. A group of almost 100 eager birders (including 13 guides) sailed from Cape Town harbour shortly after 16h00 into a blustery, choppy north-west storm. Shortly after leaving the shelter of the breakwater, the ship was joined by the first true seabirds: Subantarctic Skua, Sooty Shearwaters, White-chinned Petrels, Shy Albatrosses and Wilson's Storm-Petrels. However, it soon became too dark to see, and with the rain starting, everyone retired for the evening.

 

The plan was to steam south towards Protea Sea-mount, a 1500 m deep pinnacle some 150 miles SSW of Cape Point. However, with the seas becoming progressively larger through the night, and winds of around 40 knots, the captain slowed the ship and headed farther west to reduce the ship's rolling. Despite these measures, few passengers got a lot of sleep, but the mood soon improved shortly after dawn, with the arrival of the first Wandering Albatross. A steady passage of Soft-plumaged and Great-winged Petrels kept everyone entertained, and then the first of several Little Shearwaters was spotted running level with the ship's bow, and gave great views for more than 10 minutes.

 

Soon after this excitement, a Northern Royal Albatross joined the ship, and was quickly joined by a second and then a third bird. We had barely recovered from this when a Southern Royal Albatross also came in, and this also was joined a second bird! Everyone had protracted views of these supposedly rare stragglers to our waters as they repeatedly circled the back of the ship. But the high-point of the trip came in the afternoon, when a Sooty Albatross flew in and circled the ship for about 5 minutes, even landing briefly on the water. Needless to say everyone got great looks, increasing more than ten-fold the number of birders who have seen this species in SA waters.

 

The final excitement of the afternoon was a Slender-billed Prion, which appeared in the wake briefly, but refuse to return even when tempted with the chum. We did get good looks at a few Antarctic Prions though. Dusk saw a very happy group of birders enjoying a braai on the helideck of the Agulhas. Even the few people who'd suffered overnight had recovered to see all the main birds, and the bar did a brisk trade. Dawn the following day found us 75 miles west of Scarborough, still in 3000m of water and on a much calmer sea. The early morning was similar to the previous day, with regular Soft-plumaged Petrels, a Manx and Little Shearwater, and another Southern Royal Albatross, but the writing was on the wall as we steamed towards the shelf and saw our first Cape Gannet, and a little later were joined by two Kelp Gulls - flying in from the west!

 

With the sea being much calmer, the chances of spotting cetaceans increased, and we were joined by a large pod of Atlantic Bottle-nosed Dolphins and Long-finned Pilot Whales. Closer to shore we also saw a few Dusky Dolphins and a distant pair of Southern Right Whales. The ship docked on schedule, and everyone departed, happy to have had the chance to go to sea on such an ideal platform for birding. Thanks to donations and a small profit margin, some R15 000 was raised for albatross research. On behalf of all the passengers aboard, I'd like to thank the captain, officers and crew of the SA Agulhas for their assistance and great service. Thanks also to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Smit Pentow Marine for making the trip possible. We plan to run repeat trips in May and August next year.

Peter Ryan

Fitzpatrick Institute

University of Cape Town