After the amazing last couple of days, the journey north was very quiet with just Wandering Albatross, White-chinned and Great Winged Petrels. However, there was a real buzz from news that a possible Tristan's Albatross had been seen. We had spent a lot of time on our balcony because of rain and bad weather, watching Wandering Albatrosses and the Petrels. David was looking out for Royal Albatross and had photographed every albatross that had passed. When we got a message, not easy through the ship's address system which was only easy to hear from the corridor, that there had been a possible sighting of Tristan's. As we looked out as an unusual Albatross came round the ship, I even managed to photograph it, and it turned out to be the Tristan's.
We tuned into a lecture by *** about Albatrosses and, of course, he mentioned and illustrated the possible Tristan's.
The next morning we were up and at the bow of the ship just after 5.00 and there was the Tristan's still floating around the bow and down the sides of the ship.
The rest of the journey to Durban was pretty uneventful with a few cetacean sightings which usually had passed or were so distant that by the time the news came through there were well gone. We did manage to get Striped and Rough-toothed Dolphins in the scope but missed the others.
On Monday morning we could see Durban in the distance and the sun coming up over the skyline was quite atmospheric. There were Swift Terns and Grey-headed Gulls about as we headed for port, with the pilot coming out by helicopter. The boat gently nosed its way in and then did a slow pirouette before the thrusters pushed us into the berth. On the way in we saw Egyptian Goose, etc.
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