Cape Town Pelagics: what Jane & Simon say

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on a Cape Town Pelagics trip © Meidad Goren/BirdLife SA

Simon Brown & Jane Mason joined the Cape Town Pelagics trip on 6 February 2011. They share their notes about the guide, skipper, lunch, trip duration, office support and trip value.

Tell us a bit more about yourselves and why you went on a Cape Town Pelagics trip? We’re keen birders from the UK and wanted to experience a pelagic trip in the southern hemisphere, and to get good views of species that we hadn’t seen before – especially albatrosses. Cape Town Pelagics have a very good name in British birding circles and a good website. We also know that Cape Town Pelagics donates all profits to seabird conservation and research.

Southern Giant Petrel © David Allan on a Cape Town Pelagics trip

What were the highlights of your trip?
Close-up views of albatrosses and petrels; interesting views of the cape showing the geological features; experience of being at sea off the continental shelf.

How would you rate your Cape Town Pelagics guide?
Dalton was excellent in every way. We’d expected him to be good on identifying the birds (and he was) but more than this he was very patient in repeatedly pointing out the salient features of the birds and in answering our questions on their behaviour and ecology. And he didn’t rush off at the end of the trip, but instead stayed on to provide a detailed summary of what we’d seen. He was also informative on other areas that interested us such as fishing practices and the geology of the Cape, and he gave us some useful guidance on other birding locations. Overall he was as good as we could have hoped for.

White-chinned Petrel on a Cape Town Pelagics trip © Meidad Goren/BirdLife SA

How would you rate the skipper?
Excellent – it wasn’t easy to link up with a trawler but he got us there in plenty of time to watch the birds at leisure.

What did you think of the duration of the trip?
Just about right. A few of the passengers took shelter on the return journey, and we were all probably a bit tired but we all wanted maximum time with the birds so no complaints.

Did you enjoy the lunch; would you have any suggestions?
Lunch was fine –there was something for everyone including vegetarians, drinks were offered repeatedly, and we were frequently told to help ourselves whenever we wanted.

An example of a lunch on a Cape Town Pelagics trip.

Did you easily find the meeting place?
Couldn’t have been easier.

Booking, office support and website.
Yes, you responded promptly, it was easy to book and the information pack gave us everything we needed. Website is excellent – I particularly liked the calendar showing expected species, and the summaries of previous trips. (Dalton’s trip report is accurate and comprehensive).

How would you rate the tour’s value?
It was one of the more expensive excursions on our South African trip but we’re glad we did it and think that we got value for money.

How well did the trip meet your expectations?
Perfect. Yes, we would recommend Cape Town Pelagics – trustworthy, enthusiastic and showed the attention to detail of a professional company.

To find out about upcoming trips, please see our trip calendar or contact us.

Cape Town Pelagics Boat