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Posted by Toe on 21:53:55 05/03/09
I wasn't planning on doing any pelagics this weekend due to the forecasts all week for strong east winds. On Friday the forecast changed calling for winds decreasing to 15 kts on Saturday, then 5-10 on Sunday. As we found out today, the winds dropped, for about 15 minutes, then it was back to 15 kts with gusts. Despite this, our brave crew of Peter Morris and his girlfriend Kathy (2 others that will remain nameless bailed at the last minute; slackers!) did our best to find a few pelagics. Birds were out there, but not in the high numbers I expected after weeks of strong winds. The culprit this time was probably the lack of current. We had to search hard, going out to close to 2,000 feet of water to find birds, but we got an OK list for the day.
Just before heading in we got extremely lucky with a Leatherback Turtle that surfaced just ahead of us then submerged right under the boat. This one was big. I rescued a Leatherback once off Key West that was tangled with rope from a lobster trap, and I estimated that one to be about 500 lbs. Today's specimen was easily twice that size. I figure this one was 8 feet long and over 1,000 lbs. Truly magnificent. Thanks to Peter and Kathy for making it out today and putting up with the seas.
Our list:
Audubon's Shearwater (2)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Brown Booby (10)
Northern Gannet (~25)
Red-necked Phalarope (5)
Bridled Tern (~40)
Sooty Tern (3)
Magnificent Frigatebirds (many at the marina, only a few offshore
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