Pelagic Boat Trip

    Despite saying a couple years ago that I had retired from pelagic boat trips I keep finding reasons to go on one. Last year, I went on one because I still needed a species of Shearwater that had been split from another species (Scopolis).

   This year when a pelagic was being planned I asked Laurie if she wanted to go. My logic is that she had never been on a dedicated pelagic and she loves boats. Last year, when I went, I saw hundreds of dolphins. I was hoping this trip would have dolphins and whales to make Laurie happy. 

   The purpose of these trips is actually to see birds. Thirty or so birders charter one of the whale watch boats of the Francis Fleet. You really can't see any of the Shearwaters or Jaegers from shore so taking a trip out to see them is the only way to count them for the year. As many of you know, Laurie is not a birder so she was hoping to see whales.

   The birding was pretty good. We got four species of Shearwaters, a Jaeger, and Wilson's Storm Petrels. Birds were around the boat most of the trip. There was one whale seen. Unfortunately, only myself a couple other people saw it. It was a small whale so it was almost certainly a  Minke. The non-birding highlight of the trip were Ocean Sunfish. These large fish can reach up to six hundred pounds. They will float on their side at the surface. I personally saw three of them. 

With a couple hours left in our trip we took the long way back around the west side of Block ISland. The scenery was terrific. We saw both North Light, Southeast Light, the cliffs, Southwest Point and seals hauled out.

   All in all, if you were a birder it was a pretty good trip. If you like mammals, it wasn't very good. I wish it had been better for Laurie. No pelagics are like any other. Some are great and some can be duds. This one was somewhere in the middle

Below are multiple photos Paul Miller took of the Ocean Sunfish. His photos are way better than mine and by far the best I have seen. Below his photos are a few more of mine from the trip.

This photo and the following three  below were 
taken by Paul Millert

My photos below

Seals off of the North Rip

North Light

Southeast Lighthouse