Over 25 birders were aboard a Holland America cruise-ship between San Diego and Vancouver, May 2-4. On May 3rd, we were off CA from southern San Luis Obispo County to southern Mendocino County--with mostly light winds. What a difference a week makes...this time only ONE Cook's Petrel (plus only 1 Murphy's and 0 Hawaiian) off CA. The light winds may have played a role, but clearly the numbers of Cook's had dropped way off from the previous week when 170 were seen. We did have a dozen Murphy's the following day (May 4) off Oregon and s. Washington, as well as some Parakeet Auklets just north of the CA border, plus Laysan, late-ish Ancient Murrelet(s), another early-ish South Polar Skua, etc. Overall numbers of birds offshore were largely rather lackluster both days. Highlights in CA waters on May 3 were:

Laysan Albatross: 3 (singles in MTY, SM, and SON/MEN)

Murphy's Petrel: 1 (only 1, off s. MEN)

Cook's Petrel: 1 (only 1, off s. MEN)

Ashy Storm-Petrel: 7 (all off s. MEN)

Great Egret: 1 (flying in from west, some 60 km off MTY...)

South Ploar Skua: 1 (slightly early, off MTY)

Scripps's Murrelet: 8 (4 pairs--1 off SLO, 1 off MTY, and 2 off SM)

Tufted Puffin: 1 (off SF)

Eurasian Collared-Dove: 1

--Paul Lehman (and fellow crew), San Diego