I have been on this trip several times. Make sure you bring plenty of water, a lunch and snacks. A hat that ties securely is essential. The boat will be constantly moving so wear secure footwear. Make sure you take cash money to tip the guides and deck hands. Dress in layers. It will be cool in the morning but usually warms up quite a bit. The guides are great and really know their birds.

The Sept 27-29, 2023 found the first ever Red-footed Booby for a TX Pelagic trip, a species I had been expecting (hoping) to find on a Texas Pelagic for some time. It’s a very rare but increasingly found seabird for Texas. This trip also yielded 11 pelagic seabird speislrirs. Other great finds for 2023 trips included a Great Shearwater and Manx Shearwater. Also seen in 2023 were many of the regular Texas Seabirds we are more accustomed to: Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, Audubon’s, Cory’s, and Scopoli’s Shearwaters; Bridled Terns, Masked and Brown Boobies, Pomarine Jaeger, tons of Magnificaent Frigatebirds, Red-necked Phalarope, Sabine’s Gull. 

The list of rarities found on TX Pelagics over the years is impressive: Red-billed Tropicbird, Brown Noddy, Yellow-nosed Albatross, South Polar Skua, Black-capped Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Arctic Tern to name a just few. I’m even holding out hope for very-rare birds like White-tailed Tropicbird, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel or who knows maybe an exotic shearwater / petrel? Two exceptionally-rare ‘accidental’ first Texas record seabirds were found in Texas Waters in 2022;, a Wedge-tailed Shearwater!!! and a Trindade Petrel!!! 

Texas Pelagic trips are always more about quality than quantity. Many Texas first records have been added on TX Pelagic trips over the past 30 years, a trend I suspect will continue. 

There is a company named Texas Pelagics that has trips a couple of times a year. There is a 14/16 hour from Port Aransas usually in August. There is slso a 48 hour trip out of Freeport.