We have all been there - done that!!! Not a cruise I hasten to add but a holiday with family where, according to reports, there should be some opportunity for bird photography.

So I took my gear on a cruise around the western Mediterranean, hoping for Shearwaters on the open sea. It was not until we reached the Italian port of Civitaveccia that I saw some loafing gulls in the port so a couple of hours from the balcony, produced mainly Yellow-legged Gulls, adult or juvenile

interspersed with the odd Lesser Black-backed Gull

And that was it. No Shearwaters on the open sea, the only birds of interest that were some distance away appeared to be 10 Cattle Egrest, 200 miles from the nearest land that circled the boat, preumably migrating South.

So, while the cruise was great, bird photography was a disappointment.