of fish schooling at between 60 and 90 feet of water. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The skies were quiet as we cruised along in the bright sunshine and then the first pelagic birds appeared. 
     
     Two were present and working the waters just off the stern of the boat. They were approximately the size of a 
     
     small blackbird, dark in colour with hooked wings, delicate flight just above the water, a straight tail and a white 
     
     rump. We had located our first storm petrels of the day. As these birds had a straight tail and a contiguous white 
     
     rump patch, they were Wilson’s Storm-Petrels. We were about 2.5 km off East Lake at the time. The boat’s crew 
     
     indicated that the storm-petrels arrived each year at the time the bluefin tuna did. 
     
    

    
     As we continued towards the waters off East Point, we sighted more storm-petrels either as single birds or 
     
     small groups of up to six. Suddenly, two storm-petrels with V-shaped tails appeared with four Wilson’s Storm- 
     
     Petrels. They came within 40 metres of the boat and the slight dark central band splitting the tail rump combined 
     
     with the V-shaped tail marked the distinctive features of the Leach’s Storm-Petrel. Our excitement level went up 
     
     as we were still less than an hour into the journey. 
     
    

    
     Off East Point, the Captain and First Mate started preparing the tuna fishing rig. When Captain MacNeil 
     
     pulled out a bag of long narrow balloons and started blowing one up, I realized that my mental image of tuna 
     
     fishing was about to be altered. The bright balloon, when properly inflated, was set aside while a tuna fishing 
     
     pole was baited with a live mackerel. The mackerel was put over the side and Jeff fed out about 60 to 70 feet of 
     
     line after which he attached the balloon to the line with an elastic like that used for rural mail. The balloon served 
     
     like bobber with the advantage that a sudden strike would pop it off the line. The first balloon float was fed out 
     
     until it was over 150 metres from the boat. Contrary to the images evoked by Hemingway’s writing, the pole was 
     
     set in a reinforced hole in the side of the boat. A plastic tube was attached with elastics to the line along the pole. 
     
     When a tuna strikes this setup, the elastics release and the plastic tube runs down the taunt line to shield the line 
     
     from the bluefin tuna’s sharp teeth. Two more poles were set up in a similar manner at shorter distances off the 
     
     same side of the boat. One of these lines fished the area roughly below the boat. 
     
    

    
     Next Captain Jeff dug out a kite whichwas rigged to a fishing pole and a larger, heavier balloon. A tank 
     
     of helium was brought out from the cabin and the balloon was blown up to a diameter of over two feet. The 
     
     balloon was taped to a kite of a similar diameter and launched off a lighter fishing pole than that used for the tuna 
     
     line. A self release swivel was located on this line and the line of a fourth tuna pole was placed in this swivel. 
     
     This set up was established off the opposite side of the boat from the deep baits . It was used to have the mackerel 
     
     bait swim just at the surface of the water simulating an injured mackerel. Thus, we learned a new use for the term 
     
     “go fly a kite”! 
     
    

    
     Preparing the baits lead to the release of some mackerel scales over the side of the boat and more storm- 
     
     petrels appeared following the sparkling scales. As we drifted with the tides several kilometres first north and 
     
     then east of East Point lighthouse, we were on the outer edge of some 50 tuna boats. As the morning progressed, 
     
     we were joined first by some immature Northern Gannet and later some mature gannet. Periodically, one or more 
     
     Wilson’s Storm-Petrel would fly by. On some occasions, they passed within 10 metres of the boat. 
     
    

    
     As I scanned the horizon for pelagic birds, a large black head popped out of the water about a kilometre 
     
     from the boat and after it sunk below the surface the sharply hooked dorsal fin appeared. Within the next hour we 
     
     were watching the repeated surfacing of at least three whales. On no occasion was spray plume observed on 
     
     surfacing. Thus we concluded that these were Minke whales. Throughout the day, we were delighted to watch 
     
     the whales surface, usually several times, before they disappeared below the surface. 
     
    

    
     During conversations with the Captain and First Mate, they revealed that whales were seen regularly in 
     
     these waters at this time of year. In addition, shearwaters were often seen. Unfortunately, we had no luck on this 
     
     day with shearwaters as we did not see any in the 9.5 hours we spent on the water. Four tuna fish passed through 
     
     the sonar beam of the boat and, while each caused considerable excitement, none took a bait. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     MINKE WHALE