South Africa: Cape Town to the Antarctic Pack Ice - 30 Oct to 18 Nov 2002

Ocean Wanderers is proud to present the second illustrated trip report written by seabird and marine mammal fanatic John Brodie-Good. We voyaged south from Cape Town into the poorly known pack ice zone. John is the founder and owner of WildWings (and its sister company WildOceans), specialist nature travel companies based in Bristol, England. Together WildWings and WildOceans offer an unrivaled range of seabird and marine mammal orientated holidays at excellent prices.

The 2002 Expedition "South Africa to the Pack Ice" was concieved and organized by Birding Africa.

Hope you enjoyed the account! Cheers, Angus Wilson

List of species observed at sea (excludes landbirds from the Cape Town and Lambert's Bay areas).

*King Penguin
Emperor Penguin
*Gentoo Penguin
Adelie Penguin
*Macaroni Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
*Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
African (Jackass) Penguin

*Wandering (Snowy) Albatross
Northern Royal Albatross
Southern Royal Albatross
Shy (White-capped)Albatross
(Southern) Black-browed Albatross
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
*Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
*Sooty Albatross
*Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
Albatross’s sp
*Northern Giant Petrel
*Southern Giant Petrel
Atlantic Petrel
Antarctic Petrel
Cape Petrel
Snow Petrel
Antarctic Fulmar
*Blue Petrel
*Salvin's Prion
Antarctic Prion
Slender-billed Prion
*Fairy Prion
*Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel
*Kerguelen Petrel
*Soft-plumaged Petrel
White-headed Petrel
*Grey Petrel
*White-chinned Petrel
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Little Shearwater
Wilson's Storm Petrel
*Black-bellied Storm Petrel
*Grey-backed Storm Petrel
Leach's Storm Petrel
(White-faced Storm Petrel)
 *Common Diving Petrel

Cape Gannet
*Crozet Shag
Bank Cormorant
(White-brested) Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
*Subantarctic (Brown) Skua
Long-tailed Skua
Arctic Skua
Pomarine Skua
Cape Gull
*Kelp Gull
Hartlaub's Gull
Sabine's Gull
Arctic Tern
Swift Tern
Sandwich Tern
*Kerguelen Tern
Grey (Red) Phalarope
*Lesser (Black-faced) Sheathbill
Rock Pigeon
 

Southern Right Whale
Antarctic Minke Whale
(Dwarf) Minke Whale
Sei Whale
Fin Whale
Humpback Whale
Sperm Whale
Southern Bottlenose Whale
Strap-toothed Whale
(Arnoux’s Beaked Whale)
Orca
Whales sp.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin
Dusky Dolphin
Heaviside’s Dolphin
Common Dolphin
Dolphins sp

Cape Fur Seal
*Subantarctic Fur Seal
*Southern Elephant Seal
Crabeater Seal
Leopard Seal

Ocean Sunfish
Turtle sp
Jellyfish sp
Icefish
Antarctic Krill

* denotes breeds at the Prince Edward Islands


Part 01 - (30-31 October)   Pre-Cruise
Part 02 -(01-02 November) Embarkation
Part 03 - (03-04 November) The Roaring Forties
Part 04 - (05-06 November) Marion
Part 05 - (07-08 November) Marion & Prince Edward Island
Part 06 - (09-10 November) Iceberg!!
Part 07 - (11-12 November) Into the pack ice
Part 08 - (13-14 November) Recrossing the Antarctic Convergence
Part 09 - (15-16 November) Petrel Fever
Part 10 - (17-18 November) Landfall

Need more information? I recommend visiting the WildWings web site (http://www.wildwings.co.uk/) or requesting their excellent catalogue (WildWings, 577-579 Fishponds Road, Bristol, BS16 3AF, England; Phone: +44 (0)117-9658-333; E-mail: wildinfo@wildwings.co.uk). By booking a trip through them, you are guaranteed excellent and friendly service as well as help with flights, side-trips etc. Please mention that you learned about their operation through Ocean Wanderers.

You can read John's account of a cruise through the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia by clicking here.

Page layout and photos copyright of Angus Wilson© 2002 All rights reserved.
Text copyright of John Brodie-Good© 2002 All rights reserved.
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