It's been a while. Me and my better half did a cruise to the eastern seaboard of the States and Canada from Sept 18th-Oct 10th. There were obvious things we were hoping to see such as the spectacular fall colours and the large concentrations of Humback Whales that this part of the world is renowned for. But I was also excited by the trans-Atlantic crossing through infrequently travelled  waters at a time of year when potentially large numbers of seabirds could be migrating/gathering in the mid to NW Atlantic.

The highlights-
There were many, we didn't end up with a huge trip list but it's not about the numbers game for me, it's a about the experiences. Highlights roughly in the order of how much they blew me away:

Highlight 1-Trindade Petrel At Sea Sept 21st 2015.

It's rare, it's a Pterodroma Petrel, it was a long way north of its core range, what more needs to be said. Got our exact position at the time of the observation from the bridge for this one;
4357.6' N 04642.5' W which put us at 265 nautical miles from Cape Pine, Newfoundland. I first clocked it with the naked eye as it flew alongside the ship and first thoughts on seeing the generally dark plumage and long angular wings were Sooty Shearwater. On raising the bins I knew it wasn't one of those and that I was looking at something special, have to admit I didn't know exactly which species it was there and then, I knew it was a Pterodroma, I'd seen it in Flood and Fishers excellent N.Atlantic Seabirds Guide; Pterodroma Petrels. Fortunately it hung around long enough for me to rattle off some shots and then a check of the books in the cabin.
Trindade Petrel is a rare but regular visitor to the Gulf Stream off North Carolina and has now been recorded almost annually off the Azores.  Not sure how often  if it has made it up to Newfoundland waters but given the long distance capabilities of seabirds it would not be surprising if was a rare but regular visitor here also.