2008 Gulf Stream Pelagic Trips

*2008 Price: $145 per person per day (*$10 off on each Hatteras trip for two or more days in a 10 day period - so $135 per person/day)

  -Meeting time : 0530 at Hatteras Landing Marina in Hatteras, NC for Hatteras trips from May to early August; 0545 for August 22, 23 trips

            -Duration : +/- 11 hours

  Most of the pelagic trips we run during the warmer months visit the Gulf Stream, a highly dynamic, warm water current that passes very close to Cape Hatteras.  The Gulf Stream moves generally in a northeasterly direction.  Near Cape Hatteras, the Gulf Stream meets the southbound Labrador Current.  The latter is a cold water current, which has considerably less velocity than the Gulf Stream, but nevertheless plays and important part in creating the dynamic marine ecosystem along the west wall of the Gulf Stream.  The west wall of the Gulf Stream is usually about 35 to 40 miles southeast of Oregon Inlet, but may be closer than 20 miles from Hatteras Inlet at times.

  While many species of pelagic seabirds feed primarily along the west wall of the Gulf Stream, some, such as the Black-capped Petrel (a regional specialty) are found primarily a few miles seaward of the Gulf Stream edge.  Others, such as tropicbirds, may be found in the relatively unproductive Gulf Stream interior.

  On some days the west wall of the Gulf Stream is easy to spot, as cobalt blue water meets shelf water that is green "as a gourd".   At other times, particularly if the stream is a bit farther offshore, the change might be subtle and there can be a large area of "blended water" between the shelf water and the axis of the stream.  The axis is where the "hard current" is located.  The current generally flows on a northeasterly heading of about 2 to 4 knots.

  There are a number of seabirds typically associated with Gulf Stream water in the western North Atlantic.  Those are Black-capped Petrel, Audubon's Shearwater, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, White-tailed Tropicbird, Red-billed Tropicbird, Masked Booby, and Bridled & Sooty Terns.  Many of the rarities we see, Bermuda Petrel, Fea’s Petrel, & Herald Petrel, are seldom found away from this feature, but that might be more of a coincidence than a real association, because we see a number of cold-temperature species in the Gulf Stream with great frequency, Greater Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, & Wilson's Storm-Petrel.

  In any event, for most of the spring and summer, the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras is probably the most consistent (and convenient) place in the western North Atlantic for finding a variety of pelagic seabirds on any given day.  Getting there usually only takes between 1.5 to 2.5 hours of traveling each direction, so most of our day is spent in or along the Gulf Stream.