Not much to report on the sea bird survey although the species list is steadily climbing with the addition of kittiwake, great skua and sandwich tern. Although I have also had repeated distant views of shearwater sp. and storm petrel sp. they remain very elusive and as yet I have been unable to get a positive ID on any of them. We are surveying in an approximate west-east orientation and during the east-end work we are only about 5 miles offshore. This has provided some lovely views of the Moroccan coast and the beautiful snow-capped Atlas mountains- the first time I have seen snow on the African continent.
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| Agadir with snow-capped Atlas mountains beyond. |
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| close pass to the shore south of Agadir- where desert meets sea! |
Being so close to shore has allowed a number of uninvited guests to jump aboard, including a collection of bugs, beetles, grasshoppers and moths.
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| hawk moth sp. |
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| grasshopper or locust? |
We also had a very nice view of a loggerhead turtle as it swam past the vessel.
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| Loggerhead turtle |
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| kittiwake |
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