Hi All

This is a reminder that Island Packers is offering a 12-hour
deepwater pelagic trip from the Ventura Harbor at 7 am on Sunday July 15. This trip will allow us to get to offshore
waters beyond the reach of most day trips where we will have a chance to see a
number of outstanding pelagic birds and marine mammals. Our intention is to go southwest from Ventura
towards San Nicolas Island and the banks, knolls, canyons and other productive
features in the area. This will give us
a chance to look for sought after species like Cooks Petrel, Red-billed
Tropicbird, Least Storm-Petrel, Leach's Storm-Petrel, Townsend's Storm-Petrel,
Guadalupe Murrelet and Craveri's Murrelet.
Our trip to this area last year was outstanding and yielded Cooks
Petrels, Black-footed Albatross, 45 Craveris Murrelets (!!), Brown Booby, and
a variety of other pelagic species. Recent pelagic trips out of San Diego have
found Craveris Murrelets, Nazca Booby, Masked Booby, and Townsends
Storm-Petrel so there are some great birds in the Southern California Bight at
the moment. We will decide what our offshore destination will be after
reviewing oceanographic conditions at the time of the trip, which will help
determine where the birds and other marine life may be present or concentrated.

Summer trips in July and August coincide with the earlier
parts of the southbound fall migration of arctic nesting species, the northward
dispersal of southern nesting species, and the nesting and fledging periods of
breeding species on the Channel Islands.
Past trips have found Cooks Petrel (rare), Manx Shearwater (rare),
Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross (rare), Buller's Shearwater, Leach's
Storm-Petrel, Blue-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Long-tailed Jaeger, South Polar
Skua, Scripps's Murrelet, Craveri's Murrelet, Arctic Tern, and a variety of
other shearwaters, storm-petrels, pelagic gulls and terns, phalaropes, and
alcids. Patrolling the shoreline of
Anacapa Island has yielded American Oystercatchers over the last few
years. Summer is also an excellent time
for Ashy and Black Storm-Petrels, and Cassin's Auklets. There is often a flock of 1000's of Black
Storm-Petrels south of the islands that we will attempt to find. A few Rhinoceros Auklets and Common Murres
should still be around, along with Pigeon Guillemots near the islands. Red-billed Tropicbird is always possible on
summer trips, although not found every year.

The trip will be on an ultra-fast catamaran that features a
spacious and comfortable cabin, galley, and excellent viewing from both the
upper and lower decks. A full contingent of outstanding seabird leaders will be
present to make sure we see all that is out there. The Captain and crew know how to run birding
trips and are enthusiastic and helpful.
In addition, we work hard to creep up on birds and get them in the right
light...photographers will not be disappointed!

Trips can be booked over the phone by calling (805) 642-1393
or online at www.IslandPackers.com by clicking the Reserve Trip tab, select the
Special Trips tab, and select your desired departure. The cost of the trip is
$195 per adult.

Hope to see you at sea!

Dave Pereksta

Ventura, CA