Today we had a morning trip booked from Kaikōura out into the bay to look for Albatrosses , the day dawn with blue skies and only a light swell so it looked like a great day to spend on a boat. We used albatrossencounter.co.nz which was based on the Main Street, we met bright and early with one other couple and took a minibus to the harbour on the other side of the point.
Heading out for about a mile off coast the captain stopped and put some bait in the water, fish heads and the like to help attract the birds, but he needn’t have bothered as they were already there following the boat and buzzing us as we went, these birds are huge and you only really get a sense of that when they are flying right behind you at head height.
We didn’t stay in one place for very long, going further out for another mile with numerous stops to scan and see what was about before taking a long trip back to the harbour. All in all we were out for a good three hours, maybe more. It was an amazing trip and the amount of bird life we saw was incredible, considering how vast the ocean is, the captain really knew his stuff and found a great selection of species. We even managed to watched some Dusky Dolphins on the way back in.
Over the course of the trip we managed to seeSouthern and Northern Great Albatross, Wandering New Zealand Albatross, New Zealand White Capped Albatross, Calvin’s and Bullers Albatross. We also ticked off Great Northern Petrel,, Westland Petrel, White Chinned Petrel, Cape Petrel, Huttons Shearwaters, Bullers Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater and Short Tailed Shearwater, Pied Shags, White Fronted Terns, Artic Terns, Back Backed Gulls and Read Billed Gulls.
Fantastic experience. Click the small image to see the larger
