CALBIRDS - Message Board

I got a few questions/suggestions regarding this trip, so some additional information.

This is basically a seawatch and you will need a scope. I would not recommend just using binoculars. Basically, you find a spot out of the wind with good light near the front of the ship and
spend the day scoping. It is not good for photography. Birds generally do not get close to the massive ship.

As for price, we got 2 rooms (a balcony for me and my wife and an indoor room across the hall for our two kids). For our 5 night trip, our balcony was $533/person ($1,066 total).Our kids indoor
room was $429/person ($858 total).That includes everything (room, food, entertainment, taxes, fees, port expenses, etc) but alcohol and tip ($15/day/person). I always get a balcony on these trips but I have never done my seawatches from my room.

My eBird trip reports are here (you can see our route and the areas where no reports are logged were when I took lunch with my family):
April 12:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/48456
April 15:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/48457

Happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks,

Jim Holmes

Sacramento, CA

From: James Holmes

Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2022 7:28 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: Cruise Ship out of San Francisco

I recently (April 11-16) took a 5 night cruise from San Francisco to San Diego to Ensenada, Mx to San Francisco. Previously, I was not aware that cruise ships were running trips such as this out of San Francisco along the California Coast
(perhaps a new thing with COVID).

This trip had one sea day from San Francisco to San Diego (April 12) and one sea day from Ensenada to San Francisco (April 15). Due to the route, I was not sure how much time the ship would spend far offshore in deep water. Fortunately,
we spent 12 hours both days in deep water, well offshore the California coast. I was also a little worried the trip was too early for Petrels.

On Tuesday, we were at ~35.0190104,-121.9611238 (about 70 miles west of the Point San Luis Lighthouse) at sunrise and headed south along the Santa Lucia Escarpment across the SW end of the Arguello Canyon and across the San Juan Seamount
and then southeast to ~ 32.700323,-120.213155 (when I had to quit for dinner but sunset was coming quickly). On our return Friday, we were at 32.6772726,-120.1837406 at sunrise (50 miles SW of San Nicolas Island) and followed the exact course back towards
San Francisco, ending at 35.424409,-122.166174 (again, just before sunset). Our trip route can basically be seen for Sooty Shearwaters in eBird for April 2022 -

https://ebird.org/map/soosheneg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=4&emo=4&yr=cur
Of note, the Ruby Princess was coming back from Ensenada prior to us embarking and it took a course inside the channel islands. I am not sure why (gale force winds or perhaps they had to make an emergency stop and drop a passenger off
there was COVID outbreak). I assume that our trip was the normal route (well offshore) for SFO-SAN and Ensenada-SFO.

We were on the Ruby Princess which has a bow (8 th deck) allowing you to be at the very front of the ship (excellent for birding). We had gale force winds on April 12 out of the NW (directly behind the boat). Unfortunately,
we had high winds (20 knots out of the NW) on the way back that closed the bow and forced me to bird from the 7 th deck starboard side.

Highlights on April 12 include the following:

Long-tailed Jaeger (1) Parakeet Auklets (2)
https://ebird.org/checklist/S107238388
Sabines Gull (121) Laysan Albatross (4) Fork-tailed Storm Petrel (2) Murphys Petrel (7) Cooks Petrel (6)

Highlights on April 15 include the following (surprised not to have any Murphys):
Sabines Gull (33) Laysan Albatross (1) Cooks Petrel (19)

There are numerous trips this summer on Carnival Miracle from San Francisco to Ensenada which would allow two days in deep water. Not sure how good that ship is for birding though. It appears that you can not get to the front of the ship
and would be stuck to one of the sides.

Thanks,

Jim Holmes
Sacramento

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