We got up early to take the albatross tour, so early we had trouble finding the tour office in the dark. It was touch and go whether we'd be able to go out after yesterday's bad weather but we got the all clear.
We drove to the put in to find our boat perched on a trailer. A tracker towed it to the beach with us in it then launched the boat.
Our pilot threw out some bait and
We took off just as the sun was coming up. Our pilot drove us out about 15 minutes to a fishing boat that already had seabirds following it.
Feeding frenzy!
Our boat was quite small so we were able to sit out on the back deck and almost reach out and touch the birds.
This wandering albatross (lifer) was the top of the food chain.
The northern giant petrels are very aggressive and the wandering albatross occasionally had to give a petrol a nip to maintain the pecking order. We enjoyed watching the antics of the giant petrels.
Northern giant petrol and wandering albatross going after the bait
Other albatrosses showed up including northern and southern royal albatrosses, white-capped albatross and this Salvin's albatross:
The bird with mottled plumage next to the wandering albatross is a cape petrel (seen in Chile):
Close-up of a giant petrel:
Acting goofy:
These are white-chinned petrels (seen in Chile):
Other birds seen: Australasian gannet, kelp and silver gulls.
By the end of the tour the effects of the Gravol were wearing off so we headed back to the campground for a nap.
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