2025 SCHEDULE:

Hi Seabirders and Texas Pelagic Fans,

I am now planning to run 1 Texas Pelagic this year. Registration is NOW OPEN!

Click here to REGISTER

DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP!

Hi Seabirders and Texas Pelagic Fans,

I appreciate all the comments and kind words on my last Texas Pelagic group Facebook post. They have given me somethings to think about regarding the future of the Texas Pelagic trips I run.

The most insightful comment was from Todd McGrath; “I’ve had some experience with boat operators deciding to run pelagics on their own without leaders. If I were an inexperienced pelagic birder I would skip those trips, as a small group of leaders is really needed to get people on birds especially in a low bird density area like the Gulf. There is a lot more to a pelagic trip than just getting on the boat and motoring offshore. I for one am sad to see the trips go this route and thank Garett ‘Gary’ Hodne for all his hard work and dedication to get birders offshore. And for those that don’t know me, I’ve led hundreds of Pelagic trips for numerous operators of both coasts, and have organized many trips off Southern CA.”

Texas Pelagic trips only draws pelagic birders from Texas and rarely from neighboring states. This limited market limits the number of participants wanting to make a pelagic trip in any year, which limits the number of trips that can be viably run. Now that there are 2 companies trying to run trips in Texas something has to give. Deep Sea HQ’s ambitious schedule for 2025 is similar to the schedules I offered (except for the lack of June or July trips) when I first took over running these trips in 2014. For my first 3 years between 2014 and 2016, I successfully ran 5 – 6 trips / year. However that proved to be unsustainable for all the years beyond that up to the present.

The majority of the participants that come on my trips are new or inexperienced pelagic birders. I know that they really benefit from having experienced leaders to help them find and identify pelagic birds.

At Texas Pelagics we have a team of super talented, experienced and amazingly sharp-eyed birders that are on every trip, including Todd when he can make one. These leaders add significant value to the Texas Pelagic birding experience. They are able to cover every angle of the sea while we are cruising offshore something that would be impossible for a captain and maybe one leader to do. But spotting birds is not all they do, they help participants find the birds themselves by constantly calling out directions to where the bird is located. And it’s their job to stay aware of birds that participants may not have seen well or at all yet and help them individually get on the birds. But it’s more than just spotting the birds, the leaders have a lot of knowledge about the birds that they share with the participants enriching the pelagic experience.

For a quality pelagic experience with great leaders please join our Saturday, July 12th, trip from South Padre Island. This trip will be 14 hours, from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Good Seabirding,

Gary Hodne

IMPORTANT Announcement:

Hi Seabirders and Texas Pelagic Fans,

In 2007 I created this website for the purpose of having one location to advertise pelagic trips and to help keep them going for the current and future organizers at the time. It had always been a challenge to fill the boats with the minimum number of birders needed to make them viable, so I thought we needed a Texas pelagic website.

Prior to 2014 I had been on 25 pelagics trips in offshore Texas.  In 2024 I took over organizing Texas Pelagic trips when the previous organizer, Eric Carpenter, retired from running them. Since then I’ve successfully run 26 Texas Pelagic trips from South Padre Island, Port Aransas and Freeport. This is more trips than any previous pelagic trip organizer ran by far. We had many fabulous trips, with exceptionally rare seabirds, exciting Sperm Whale, dolphin, Whale Shark and other marine animal sightings.

The announcement this week on the Texas Pelagics Facebook group by Jon McIntyre with Deep Sea Headquarters in Port Aransas that they are planning to start running pelagic birding trips has changed the whole seascape for Texas pelagic birding in the Gulf of Mexico.

For the past 45 years it’s been up to an individual pelagic enthusiast (or birding organization) to take the initiative to charter a boat, pay a deposit out of their pocket and find enough participants to be able to cover the cost of the charter far enough in advance to make the cancellation deadline. 

When boat owners charter their boat for pelagic birding they charge an amount equal to what they would make if the same boat went out with maximum capacity of fisherman. They also require a 30 day cancellation notice. This makes the economics of running these trips profitable for them but difficult for the person who charters the boat to find enough participants far enough ahead of time.

Party boat owners can afford to run their daily offshore fishing trips with as few as 12 fisherman because they’ll cover all their expenses for those trips from other trips they run that are full or nearly so. Individual pelagic birding trip organizers don’t have this advantage.

I have been always wanting to run more trips each year than I can usually fill. When I started organizing these trip in 2014 I was able to run 4 and 5 trips per year for the first 3 years. Then since 2017 I’ve only averaged running less than 2 trips per year. Nine trips have been cancelled due to a lack of participants since 2017.

Deep Sea HQ pelagic birding trips captained Jon Mcintyre will offer Texas birders more opportunities to get offshore. This is definitely a good thing for Texas pelagic birding. And the fact that they’ll go with a minimum of only 12 people and can wait until 48 hours before the sailing date to know if the trip will make this minimum will also mean more trips should succeed in getting offshore. Deep Sea HQ’s 12 hour trips may be easier for new birders to swallow because of the less ambitious length than 14 or even 16 hours.  12 hour trips however will spend proportionately 50% less time in deep pelagic waters than the 14 hour trips I ran. Also there will be fewer, only 1 leader on board for the 12 minimum participants other than Jon the captain, who is a very experienced pelagic birder and has spent more time than anyone offshore Texas.  This may have an impact on the quality of the trip for new pelagic birders unless enough experienced pelagic birders decide to participate, but this isn’t guaranteed. The 48-hour trips Deep Sea will offer will be spartan compared to the 48-hour trips I offered on the Fling out of Freeport. There is no galley and the restrooms leave a lot to be desired from what I remember.

In light of this new seascape I’ve decided not to run my “Texas Pelagics trips” this year. I am anxious to see if Deep Sea HQ’s business model for pelagic birding trips works out for them, and if they will continue to run trips for next year and future years. I will try to make at least one of these trips myself this year, partly to see pelagic birds of course, but also partly to evaluate how well these trips are run. I hope they are successful for everyone’s benefit. It remains for me to determine if there will still be any interest in the longer 14 or 16 hour trips I can organize in future years from South Padre Island or the 48-hour trips from Freeport in addition to the trips being offered by Deep Sea HQ from Port Aransas,

For now I will continue to manage the www.TexasPelagics.com site as a resource for information on Texas Pelagic birding in the Gulf of Mexico.  All registrations and communications about the Deep Sea HQ pelagic trips should be directed to Jon McIntyre. I will no longer be doing that.

Thanks to all the leaders who dedicated themselves to making these trips a continuing success and to everyone who participated in one of my Texas Pelagic trips over the last 11 years. It’s been a great run!

Good Seabirding,

Gary Hodne

NEW PELAGIC TRIPS BY DEEP SEA HQ:

Deep-Sea Headquarters in Port Aransas is excited to announce they will begin running pelagic birding trips on the Gulf Eagle. This will offer birders with more opportunities to venture offshore to see pelagic species. We will offer 12 hour and 48 hour trips for now, it is possible in the future that we will be adding other trips as well. The big attraction of these trips will be the minimum load requirements. We will only need a minimum of 10 people to make a 48hr trip go and a minimum of 12 people to make a 12hr trip go. Other pelagics ran in Texas always needed 30+ people to make the trip, hopefully the lower minimum will allow us to get more trips out. Another plus is that we will not cancel a trip for lack of people until 48hrs before the trip is scheduled to leave (12hrs only). This gives people that are on the fence about going to wait until the last minute.

12 HOUR TRIPS: 4 trips scheduled. AUGUST 8, AUGUST 29, SEPTEMBER 12, and OCTOBER 3. Price is $173 per person. These trips will leave at 6am and return at 6pm. Ice Chests are NOT allowed. To book a 12hr trip click on the link provided below: [https://fareharbor.com/…/deepseaheadqu…/items/617355/…](https://fareharbor.com/…/deepseaheadqu…/items/617355/…)

48 HOUR TRIPS: 2 trips scheduled. MAY 16-18 and NOVEMBER 7-9. Price is $840 per person. The Gulf Eagle has bunks on board, you must provide your own bedding. This trip will have a MAXIMUM of 18 people. Food and drinks are NOT sold on this trip and ice chests ARE allowed. Trips will leave at 6am on Fridays and return at 6am on Sundays. To book a 48 hour trip, click on the link provided below: [https://fareharbor.com/…/deepseaheadqu…/items/617353/…](https://fareharbor.com/…/deepseaheadqu…/items/617353/…)

Gary has been kind enough to also allow me to add links to be able to book these trips on his website as well. This is the same website that you used in previous years to book your pelagic trips. Visit www.TexasPelagics.com for more information about pelagic trips and to book the above trips.

Feel free to contact me with any questions that you may have at mcintyrebirds@hotmail.com. I also work in the store at Deep-Sea Headquarters 1pm-8pm on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and can be reached at (361) 749-5597.

2024 Trips Summary:

Hi Seabirders and Texas Pelagic Fans,

There was one Texas Pelagic trip successfully run in 2024.

1. August 21 – 23, 2024; 48 hours; aboard the MV Fling from Freeport, the second trip on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast since 1999.  THIS TRIP WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A LACK OF PARTICIPANTS
2.  Sat. Sept 16th, 2024: 14 hour; aboard the Kingfisher from Port Aransas;  TRIP REPORT

2023 Trips Summary:

Hi Seabirders and Texas Pelagic Fans,

There were two Texas Pelagic trips successfully run in 2023.

1. August 23 – 25, 2023; 48 hours; aboard the MV Fling from Freeport, the second trip on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast since 1999.  THIS TRIP WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A LACK OF PARTICIPANTS
2.  Sat. Sept 14th, 14 hour; aboard the Kingfisher from Port Aransas;  TRIP REPORT
3. Sept 27 – 29: 48 hour; aboard the MV Fling from Freeport. TRIP REPORT

NEW FOR 2024:

I have chartered the MV Fling out of Freeport for one 48 hour trip and the Kingfisher from Port Aransas for a 14 or 16 hour trip. After searching farther east on the continental slope of Offshore Texas for the 48 hour trip in Sept 2023, the 2024 trips will return to an offshore dome known as the 500 Fathom Hump, an area that has yielded good numbers of pelagic species and marine mammals in the past.  To get to the 500 Fathom Hump requires a 16 hour trip from Port A. It can also be easily reached by dawn of the first day on the 48-hour trip. There are also other deep-water domes beyond the 500 Fathom Hump that have never been birded by a TX Pelagic trip, that could be explored on the 48-hour trip.

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 species which ties the record for the number of pelagic species seen on one trip on July 26, 1997.  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. 

A Note on Fares

The REGULAR FARE, shown in the Payment Form below, does NOT include tips to the Crew. It is customary for the crew to receive a TIP of between 15 – 20 % of the cost of the trip. 

Any reservation CANCELLATIONS beyond the “Registration Deadline” will not be refunded unless your seat is resold and the trip is full when we sail. Your fares are transferrable to anyone you choose as long as they are not already a signed up and paid participant.

Why Longer Trips:

More bang for your buck! Because Texas has a very wide continental shelf. It is narrowest at 43 nautical miles off of South Padre Island and gradually gets wider to the north where it is 66 nautical miles to the shelf edge off of  Freeport. This means that on average it takes about 4 – 6 hours of cruising each way through the shallow waters of the continental shelf to reach prime deep pelagic waters beyond the shelf edge which is the habitat favored by most of the seabirds we seek. These shelf waters are usually less-productive for pelagic seabirds, so a 12 hour trip has about 8 hours of that time are less-productive for true pelagic seabirds. Jaegers, boobies, frigatebirds and the occasional shearwater are found over the shelf, but we prefer to maximize our time in water greater than 600 feet deep.

With any trip over 12 hours Coast Guard regulations requires the boat to have a second captain on board. This boosts the price of the charter. But the added few hours of time in prime deep water habitat makes up for the added cost in our opinion. On a 12 hour trip only one-third of the time is in prime deep water habitat, While on a 14 hour trip 43% or on a 16 hour trip 50% of the time is in productive deep water habitat. More time birding in the right deep water habitat, less time (percentage wise) commuting across the shelf equals more productive trips. It’s as simple as that.

The same logic applies to the new 48-hour ULTIMATE TEXAS PELAGICS. The first night, while we’re sleeping, is spent cruising over the shelf. We awaken well rested at dawn already in prime pelagic depth waters.  Breakfast is served in an hour or two. We have the entire day of about 14 hours of daylight cruising in search of seabirds and other marine life in progressively deeper waters, farther and farther from shore, perhaps up to 150+ miles from shore. The second night is spent drifting and sailing in very deep water. At night while we’re drifting there is also the opportunity to observe marine life that migrates up from the abyss to feed in surface waters. The second morning we again awaken in very deep water and gradually work our way back to port crossing over the shelf-edge around noon, and arriving at port around 6 PM.

Overall the 48-hour Ultimate Pelagics spend a total of about 20+ hours in deep pelagic waters, or about the same as five 12-hour trips or more than three 14 hour trips. All this for almost the same cost as three 14-hour trips, without having to traverse the shelf 6 times.

I found our first 48-hour trip to be much less exhausting than the 14-hour trips. I didn’t have to wake up at about 2:00 AM to meet the boat at 4 AM. Then wait for 2+ hours for the sun to rise.  It was nice to have a real galley with good meals served. For residents of the Upper Gulf Coast it’s an easy drive to Freeport and no hotel stays are necessary. Since the boat embarks at 7:00 PM people from most of Texas would be able to forgo a stay in a hotel before the trip as well, increasing the savings.

About TexasPelagics.com:

TexasPelagics.com is dedicated to promoting public pelagic birding trips and advancing the knowledge of pelagic birds in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas Coast. This website is the single location for the archiving of pelagic trip records and pictures of the Birds and Animals seen in Texas pelagic waters.

TexasPelagics.com is a free, non-profit service to the birding community. 

About Webmaster/Owner:

The TexasPelagics.com website / blog was created by and is maintained by Garett Hodne.

© Copyright 1998-2022 Garett Hodne. All materials on all sites within this domain are copyrighted by Garett Hodne. Some individual items may be copyrighted by the author, photographer, or other sources as noted. All rights are reserved. All material is available for personal and private use only. However all material herein may not be reprinted, re-distributed, copied to other websites or reproduced for public use in any way without the express advanced written permission of the webmaster.