• Saturday 24th August 2013 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    Leaving at 07:10 hrs, we travelled out to 34° 37' 39" S; 151° 16' 54" E (WGS 84), 41 km SE of Wollongong harbour in 300m+ pelagic waters, where we stopped and drifted 1.95 km NNE, 11:12-12:15 hrs, catching 1 Wandering and 2 Antipodean (Gibson's) Albatrosses, 1 Buller's Albatross and 2 Southern Giant-Petrels, then turned back in, stopping at 34° 29' 00" S; 151° 02' 02" E, 13.6 km ESE of the harbour in 90m+ shelf waters, where we stopped and drifted 400m N, 14:35-14:55 hrs, catching 1 Shy Albatross, before continuing on back to the harbour, arriving at 16:00. Seas lumpy on the way out, calming as the wind eased in the afternoon. Water temperature 15.4° inshore when we left; 18.5° in pelagic waters.


    086 Wandering Albatross 2; 1 banded
    Wandering Albatross type 6+
    846 Antipodean Albatross gibsoni 2 banded
    973 Northern Royal Albatross 1
    088 Black-browed Albatross 7 adults including 1 with darvic band (F49) from Kerguelen Islands? plus 1 immature with darvic band (856) from Macquarie Island?
    859 Campbell Albatross 1 adult
    091 Shy Albatross cauta 10+
    861 Shy Albatross steadi 1 adult and probably 2 immatures
    864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 2
    961 Buller's Albatross bulleri 2
    929 Southern Giant Petrel 2; both banded
    083 Fairy Prion 20+
    075 Great-winged Petrel macroptera 1
    971 Providence (Solander's) Petrel 1+
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 15+
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater 1
    068 Fluttering Shearwater 20+
    065 White-faced Storm Petrel 1
    085 Common Diving Petrel 1
    104 Australasian Gannet 3+ adults
    106 Australian Pelican 3
    125 Silver Gull many
    981 Kelp Gull 6 adults & immatures
    115 Greater Crested Tern 4
    114 White-fronted Tern 7



    We also saw 2 Humpback Whales, c. 10 Common Dolphins, 1 New Zealand? Fur Seal, 1 shark sp. and 1 sunfish sp.

    Northern Royal Albatross

    Antipodean Albatross

    Cheers


    Graham