More pelagic problems

Pelagics and me—we don’t mix well. We are like fish-oil and water. It all started when I was 17 and got very seasick off Cape Hatteras. As you will see in this chapter, my issues with pelagic boat rides continue. I arrived at Fort Lauderdale Airport at about 11 PM on Thursday, November 10, 2023. Beto Matheus had reserved a 21-foot boat from his boat club for Saturday morning, November 12.  Based on his experience taking the boat out just a few miles offshore from West Palm Beach earlier in the year, he expected to find some decent pelagic species. My target species were Cory’s Shearwater, Audubon’s Shearwater, Black-capped Petrel and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. 

My early arrival gave me an extra day to chase any rarities that may have been discovered in Florida. In fact, a Fork-tailed Flycatcher had just been discovered near Panama City Beach. Unfortunately, the distance was too great for a 1-day road trip. Beto texted me to say that he had also reserved a boat for Friday, as he had the day off from work in celebration of Veteran’s Day. So I joined him on Friday morning as well. His birdwatching parents, Jorge and Ana, were visiting from Minnesota (originally from Venezuela) and they joined us. We tooled around off-shore from Pompano Beach for four hours but the only seabirds were a few Northern Gannet and a couple Magnificent Frigatebird. We hoped that our luck would improve on Saturday. We were joined by two Tampa birders (John Swenfurth and Ann Ruben). We got an earlier start and powered out to 20 miles off-shore. The birdlife we encountered was the same as on Friday confirming that the location and season were not ideal for finding my target species. Or maybe I was just unlucky. Perhaps if we had put out some chum we could have attracted some oceanic birds. Unfortunately, we inadvertently left the chum container on the dock. Easy oversight, you may be thinking.  I think it was my anti-pelagic karma. Many thanks to Beto for reaching out to me with the offer of trying for pelagic species. John and Ann dropped me at the Fort Lauderdale Airport on Saturday afternoon, in time for my 6 PM flight to San Francisco. 

In San Fran, I rented a car (Toyota Corolla) at 11 PM and headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge towards Bodega Bay. I had signed up for Lucas Corneliussen’s Deepwater Pelagic. His plan was to carry about 20 birders about 60 miles offshore, twice as far as usual and way past the continental shelf where the regular species hang out. To accomplish this task we were to assemble at 2:30 AM and depart by 3 AM. We were to tolerate up to 18 hr at sea and swells as large as 12 feet. 

To make sure I wasn’t late (and risk missing a potentially very successful pelagic experience) I planned to drive straight to the dock, arriving 1-2 hrs early. I’d sleep in my car and then on the boat as best as I could before daylight. I killed some time stopping for dinner and at a grocery to stock up on snacks. I was twenty miles from the dock and getting sleepy. The road was empty, a two lane country road that connected Bodega Bay to US101. I dozed off, and found myself driving 50 mph in the roadside ditch on the left side of the road. I veered right, pushing the vehicle back onto the empty road. Jolt, smash, crunch. I had hit something-maybe a fence post. As I pulled the car to a stop, the airbags deployed with a smoky bang. I assessed my situation. I was unscathed. The vehicle was not. A voice from Toyota’s on-star service asked if I was injured and informed me that 911 was called. EMTs arrived and checked me for damages - none. The fire department arrived and checked the vehicle for explosion hazard -none. The police department arrived and prepared an accident report. A tow truck arrived. I called an Uber hoping to still make the pelagic. It was now past 2 AM. The Uber did not arrive. A car pulled up and the passenger window lowered. “Need a ride to the pelagic?” It was Thomas Ford-Hutchinson. We had emailed each other in the past. I grabbed my bags from the trunk of the damaged Toyota just as the tow truck was ready to take it away. Miraculously, Tom and I pulled up to the dock at 2:30 AM sharp. Thank you, Tom!!

As for the pelagic, it was very successful. No Pacific petrel species unfortunately but numerous other exciting pelagic species, including Laysan Albatross, Black-footed Albatross, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater (USA and Territories Biggest Year-bird number 823), Great Shearwater (the rarest bird of the day), Ashy Storm-Petrel, Northern Fulmar, Red Phalarope, South Polar Skua (824), Pomarine Jaeger, Tufted Puffin, Rhinocerous Auklet, Cassin’s Auklet and Common Murre. The twelve foot swell was unlike anything I had ever experienced.  Several passengers were down with seasickness. Fortunately my scopolamine patch worked well against seasickness (although I wonder if it contributed to my car accident the night before the boat cruise).

Thanks again to Tom who made the pelagic possible for me. He also drove me to an airport at San Jose on the evening of November 12 for my flight home to Colorado.