The albatross zig-zagged across the curling, tossing waves, its wings like great blades, separating sea from sky. First one as we left the sheltered Bathurst Harbour in the far south-west. And then, suddenly, there was an ocean of these magnificent birds.
It seemed shy albatrosses were crossing bow and stern of our cruise vessel all the way around the South-West Cape, to Maatsuyker Island and then on to the Cape Bruny lighthouse at the entrance to the D’Entrecasteaux Channel on our voyage to Hobart.
The rolling oceans around the southern tip of Tasmania form a vital, vast habitat for prolific populations of seabirds but it is a location many us land-lubbers rarely get to experience first-hand.
For birdwatchers wanting to study seabirds in what can appear a frightening, turbulent and sometimes cruel world it is necessary to a book a pelagic birding trip out to the continental shelf.
Unlike my past pelagic trips – laced with fear amid huge waves and sea-sickness pills – this voyage was made not only in style, but calm seas. I was aboard a luxury vessel operated by On Board Adventure Cruises returning to its Hobart base after a charter in the waters of Bathurst Harbour.
Pieter van der Woude, the owner and operator of the cruise company, and one of his guides, Peter Marmion, put names to not only the seabirds out on open ocean but marine mammals in these waters, to say nothing of landmarks like mountains and lighthouses seen in the far and near distance.
As the shy albatrosses, which breed exclusively on just as few islands around the Tasmanian coast, skimmed the waves all around us there was excitement when a much rarer species usually seen further off the coast came into view. A giant petrel – a bird which rivals the albatross in size – swerved in rapid flight before us. And hundreds of short-tailed shearwaters could also be seen dipping and darting before vanishing amid the waves.
At the landing stage for Maatsuyker there was another surprise. Amid rocks lined with hundreds of grunting, squawking fur seals there were a handful of female and young male elephant seals.
Seabirds might be out of sight for those of us not connected to the oceans, but they are not out of mind.
Of the 22 species of albatross, all attract some level of threatened status. Three are critically endangered species, but thankfully not the shy albatross. Albatross decline is largely attributed to long-line fishing operations which snare and trap the birds, but these species which only return to land to breed are also vulnerable to invasive predators like rats and mice.
On a magical day under a sky scattered with fluffy, white clouds this was not a time to dwell on seabird mortality. Besides skipper van der Woude had flagged down the crew of a cray boat and crayfish was soon on the menu.