OPT Updates: Women's Exclusive Pelagic, Spring Ilwaco Pelagic, Repo Cruise Full

While we are still awaiting schedule confirmation from Newport Tradewinds, Oregon Pelagic Tours is happy to announce two new pelagics in 2025. On April 26, we will be offering an 8-hour trip out of Ilwaco. This trip will concentrate on birding waters of Pacific County, WA. And on August 17, women wishing to bird with other women will have the chance to do so, as Tamara of Garibaldi Charters will be the skipper of an  all-female pelagic. (Disclaimer: if we are not able to reach the minimum number of women to run this trip, we will be opening it to people of all gender identities.)  Finally, registration is now closed for the spring repositioning cruise aboard the Zaandam May 3-7. OPT prides itself on its customer service and we have determined that 12 people is the maximum number of participants that will allow us to provide the high level of service to which we we aspire. 

October 26 Weather Forced Cancellation

The Newport pelagic trip aboard Misty scheduled for Saturday, October 26 was canceled due to bad weather. The forecast for poor conditions remained unchanged from the five-day forecast on. High winds and high waves doth not a safe and fun pelagic make.

October 12 Pelagic Results

The October 12 pelagic out of Garibaldi bucked the weather forecast of strong winds and high swells offshore and enjoyed a very successful day on the ocean. After our trip preparation talk, we boarded the Alaska Sunrise a little after 7:00 am. Our boat crew was headed by Mick, who after a long career, would be making his last charter trip with us today. Our deckhand was his daughter, Tamara, one of the owners of Garibaldi Charters, and who was making her first trip with Oregon Pelagic Tours. Our trip out the bay provided the usual suspects: grebes, gulls and cormorants, although a group of Sanderlings on the Barview Jetty was not typical. On the ocean, we did have some large swells, but overall the trip was not too bad for most passengers. We made it to 23 miles offshore, did two chum stops, the first being very productive, with both Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses (one of the latter) coming in. Two albatross days, while not guaranteed, are no longer a surprise on our trips. We had very low numbers of jaegers and no skua, just a few Sabine's Gulls, but otherwise did see most of the expected species, including four species of shearwaters (Sooty, Pink-footed, Buller's and Short-tailed). The avian highlight was coming across 2 pairs of Scripps's Murrelets, the last pair giving everyone a decent view. Marine mammal numbers were low, but we did have a possible fin whale early on, several humpback whales (one breach!)  and a large, distant pod of Dall's porpoises. It was a nice day to be on the ocean, and an honor to be part of Captain Mick's last day as a charter skipper.