UPCOMING PELAGIC EXPEDITIONS
Download Palagic Expeditions 2021-22
Norfolk Island Seamounts – 7 days Date: 8-14th October 2022 Cost: $5500
To coincide with the Southern migration of tubenoses back to NZ, we’ve organised a 7 day sea birding expedition starting and finishing on Norfolk Island from the 8-14th of October 2021. The deep waters surrounding Norfolk Island are amongst the most difficult to access for Australian sea birders and this expedition to the remote seamounts and to 200nm East of the Island will be a rare chance to not only connect with migrating tubenoses but also to search for rare Tropical Pacific Ocean seabirds, which are undoubtedly in these waters. This trip starts and finishes on Norfolk Island. Several of us will probably spend a day either side of the trip on the island searching for Pacific Long-tailed Cuckoo.
Heard Island – 27 Days: Date: 20th March 2022: $21,500
In March 2022 we’re departing Cape Town, SA and heading to Australia’s Heard Island aboard the 39m expedition ship Braveheart, arriving 27 days later in Albany. Heard Island is truly like nowhere else in Australia. It is our very own version of South Georgia, lying south of the Antarctic Convergence, remote, glaciated, cold, windy and spectacular with Australia's highest mountain dominating the skyline.
We’re going in search of almost mythical birds to Australian birders such as Black-faced Sheathbill, Heard Island Shag, Fulmar Prion, South Georgian Diving Petrel and Macaroni Penguin as well as Snow Petrel. The last time I visited Heard Island in 2012 we had two Snow Petrels not far from shore, near the entrance to Atlas Cove! All the rare Southern Indian Ocean tubenoses such as Southern Fulmar, Kerguelen Petrel, Blue Petrel, Sooty Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross are common and we'll of course be on the lookout for possibilities such as Antarctic Petrel and vagrant penguins.
The NZ based Expedition Ship RV Braveheart will be repositioning from Albany back to NZ in April 2022, so we've organised three great multiday pelagic trips along the way.
Albany to Hobart - 10 Days: Date: 17-26th April 2022: $3500
We'll depart Albany in April 2022 and head to the shelf continuing east towards the famous seabird and cetacean hot-spot, Bremer Canyon. After a full day at the canyon we'll continue to follow the shelf east, progressively reaching deeper water and following our border to the west coast of Tassie and around the corner to Hobart. We'll of course be burleying the entire way.
Soela Seamount – Out and back. 5 days Date: 28/4 to 2/5/2022 Cost: $2800
The following trip is from Hobart where we'll travel 180nm South East of Tasmania to the legendary Soela Seamount, home to one of Australia's richest concentration of Southern Ocean seabirds. Our main targets here are Broad-billed Prion, Pycroft’s Petrel and Chatham Albatross but the list of possible species in the area at this time of year is staggering and includes ninety percent of all Southern Ocean tubenoses.
Falklands, South Georgia to Cape Town, South Africa. Date: 20 Feb 2022 Cost: $9500
As a result of needing to reposition Braveheart from The Falkland Islands to Cape Town we are able to offer an extraordinarily cheap 26 day sea birding and sight seeing cruise to South Georgia and Gough Island in late February 2022. Starting on the Falklands, we’ll travel to South Georgia where we’ll visit Shackleton’s Memorial and grave as well as the old whaling station at Grytviken and of course the huge penguin colonies that the island is famous for.
Coral Sea
After the success of our 2017 Coral Sea Seabird Expedition we’re keen to do it all again. This trip is still in the planning stages and we’re looking at either departing Alotau in PNG or Honiara in the Solomon Islands, (Both easily accessible from Brisbane), before heading South into Australia’s remote Coral Sea. Targets include Tropical Shearwater, Heinroth’s Shearwater, Phoenix Petrel, Band-rumped Storm Petrel and a long list of potential tropical seabirds.