On Saturday, Oct. 7, I journeyed out to sea with Greg Gilson's pelagic
trip out of Newport, OR. (I felt like a bit of a traitor, not being
on a boat named "Monte Carlo".) We left the dock at 4 am, and had a
beautiful moonlit ride out. We saw few birds, and reached our
destination, 58 miles out, at about 9:30. We chummed for an hour and
saw...fulmars. Every possible color variation of fulmar. Also a few
blackfoots, Pomarine Jaegers, Fork-tailed Storm Petrels, and gulls.
None of the hoped-for Laysan Albatrosses, or the mythical Pterodromas.
But the sun was out, the weather was warm, and the fulmars were
clucking. Pretty nice.

We headed in and came across a big pod (100+) of Risso's Dolphins,
cruising along side-by-side with their big dorsals out. Worth the
price of admission. We also spooked a pair of small alcids which some
identified as Xantus' Murrelets. I only got a glimpse as they took
off and disappeared around the bow, but they looked like Cassin's
Auklets to me. Gray extending down the sides, or so I thought. But
it was just a glimpse. The way they took off seemed particularly
Cassin's-like to me though; they bounced along like dorky little
ping-pong balls before getting airborne. I've never seen a Xantus',
but I've read that they get up without any bouncing or running - is
this true?

At about forty miles from shore we started having engine trouble. At
thirty-eight miles, both diesels shut down, not to start again. Turns
out there was considerable water (gallons) in all three fuel tanks.
The skipper guessed that this was courtesy of an irate ex-employee.
So we enjoyed an extended chumming session while waiting for the Coast
Guard to make the three hour trip out to rescue us. Luckily the
weather stayed fair. We sat around and fed the fulmars. We were also
visited by a blue shark (stranded at sea, with sharks circling...) and
a nice Buller's Shearwater, the first of the trip(!) The CG arrived
and courteously and efficiently got us under tow. The four hour trip
in was actually almost pleasant - quiet enough to converse, no diesel
fumes, and leisurely looks at birds, including more Buller's, Sooty
and Pink-footed Shearwaters. A great sunset too. We crossed the bar
without incident and tied up at the dock at 9:45.

Back on dry land Sunday morning, we watched a pure flock of about
sixty Townsend's Warblers work through the yard. Winter is coming;
time to start thinking about a January pelagic...

Eric Kraig
Olympia
kraig at wln.com