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Posted by Toe on 08:47:13 06/29/12
The weather forecast were all over the place this past week due to uncertainty over Tropical Storm Debby. At one point, they called for gusts to 40 kts on Thursday. The forecasts were revised down on Wednesday, so I decided we needed to go before the seas became too calm. Luckily we were able to assemble a crew at the last minute which included Larry and Philip Manfredi, Paul "Life Is Good" Bithorn, and David Shafter. With strong SW winds the previous days, I wasn't sure if we'd find anything, but a good sign came when Larry spotted a Masked Booby just south of Fowey before we had even entered the deep water. This species is pretty uncommon off Dade County. About 11 miles offshore we found a small feeding flock, and another 6 miles past that. Seas had a light chop but there were massive swells of 8-10 feet from the north due to the storm. Thanks to the gang for being ready to go at the last minute.
Our list:
Masked Booby
Brown Booby (~30+)
Great Shearwater (2)
Cory's Shearwater (12)
Audubon's Shearwater (5)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel (6)
Pomarine Jaeger
Brown Noddy (4)
Sooty Tern (10)
Bridled Tern (25)
Black Tern (offshore in a mixed flock)
My photos mostly sucked, but maybe Larry got some decent ones.
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