About 18 birders were aboard a Holland America sailing from San Diego to Vancouver from April 23-26. Strong head winds and seas off California and southern Oregon meant we had a slow down and ran late, and ended up with more time in several CA counties, less in others. Was mostly about 40 miles offshore. April 24 was from west of San Miguel Is. in Santa Barbara Co. to very southern San Mateo Co. (brief, before dusk). April 25 was from central Mendocino Co. to Curry Co. OR. Highlights were a good showing of 170 Cook's Petrels, seen in numbers in every CA county traversed in daylight up to extreme southern Humboldt. The total of a dozen Murphy's was lower than the past couple years, with by far the best views off Humboldt, Del Norte, and Curry. The single Hawaiian (Dark-rumped) Petrel was distant. Four Long-tailed Jaegers. On April 26 we were off Washington and had 10 Parakeet Auklets, plus a Laysan and a dozen Long-tailed Jaegers. Overall, numbers and diversity well offshore were rather sub-par.

APRIL 24

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY

Murphy's Petrel: 2

Hawaiian (Dark-rumped) Petrel: 1

Cook's Petrel: 31

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY

Laysan Albatross: 2

Murphy's Petrel: 1

Cook's Petrel: 31

Arctic Tern: 1

MONTEREY COUNTY

Murphy's Petrel: 1

Cook's Petrel: 75

SAN MATEO COUNTY

Cook's Petrel: 12
APRIL 25

MENDOCINO COUNTY

Cook's Petrel: 20

Ashy Storm-Petrel: 1

HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Murphy's Petrel: 4

Cook's Petrel: 1 (northernmost bird of trip was SW of Punta Gorda)

Arctic Tern: 3

DEL NORTE COUNTY

Laysan Albatross: 1

Murphy's Petrel: 3

Long-tailed Jaeger: 3

CURRY COUNTY, OR

Laysan Albatross: 1

Murphy's Petrel: 2

-- Paul Lehman, San Diego