2024 Spring Schedule*

May 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19

DAILY May 22 – June 3 (check space update below!)

June 7, 8

SPACE UPDATE – The following trips are sold out, but you can sign up for the wait list: May 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and June 1 and 8.

*Space Available on: May 19 ( just one) and June 2, 3, and 7 (just one each day)

Let us know if you have a group that wants to go seabirding!  If you have enough people, we can add a trip to the schedule, or you might want to charter the boat for your own trip!!

*2024 Price: $225 per person per day for any number of trips if paid by credit card. *$15 off on each trip for two or more days in a 10 day period – so $210 per person/day, *$25 off on each trip for five or more days in a 10 day period – so $200 per person/day – discount available with payment by check or money order only

 *Meeting time  5:15 am at Hatteras Landing Marina in Hatteras, NC for Hatteras trips from early May to mid June – this schedule will be posted in early October!

            *Duration : 10 to 11.5 hours  

As in the past, we are open for charters if you would like to organize your own group of participants for a day offshore!   In 2024 they start at $2200 for the first ten participants then $220/person up to 20 maximum.

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 20 to 25 miles from Hatteras Inlet.

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 at about 2 to 4 knots.

There are a number of seabirds typically associated with Gulf Stream water in the western North Atlantic.  These 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, & Trindade 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, Great 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 2 to 2.5 hours of traveling each direction, so most of our day is spent in or along the Gulf Stream.