I am currently on a Caribbean cruise and was wondering what iNaturalist observing can be done at sea. This is for anyone in the future as well.
Just wondering(since I am currently only seeing three booby species).
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Lots of birders like to log seabirds from cruise ships. Boobies, tubenoses, terns, ect.
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It is possible sometimes to see a whale.
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Many surface dwelling fish (e.g. mullets, needlefish, flyingfish) can be identified at least to family. The ship is pretty much guaranteed to have stowaway insects, spiders, and other invertebrates which under most definitions (including iNaturalist’s) would be considered wild. Peregrines (and to a lesser extent other falcons) can sometimes be seen hunting far out at sea.
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My lifer Masked Booby was from a cruise ship.
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Just a curious thought.
If you happen upon a spider, or rat on board a ship while bobbing around the waves.
How would you document that?
Totally out of its elements.
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Migrant birds blown off course, or just tired, sometimes land on ships. You can see how many unexpected species people have recorded at sea in this project, and add your observations: Birds on Ships
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Long before my iNat, about 20 years ago, we travelled on an Italian freighter to Africa. The cargo was wrecked old cars - sad. On board we had a pigeon and a raptor. We knew Africa was near when the raptor flew off. And later when we were nearer, the pigeon followed.
PS still sending clunkers to be ‘recycled’ on Africa’s roads
https://theconversation.com/ghana-wants-fewer-polluting-old-cars-on-the-road-but-its-going-about-it-the-wrong-way-198805
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Ships get tons of weird bugs from all sorts of countries, and many of them are starvation-resistant enough to survive all the way to the next port.
I once saw a small resident population of spiders that survived solely from bugs blown aboard.
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Photograph it, and upload it to iNat with the location being wherever the boat was when you took the picture. Just like any other wild organism.
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The same way you document anything else you see.)
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I’ve had pretty much everything mentioned in this thread and more. Whales, seabirds, sea turtles, jellyfish, lost landbirds, insects, Homo sapiens, sea otters, porpoises, you name it.
pretty much all you have to do is spend your time outside the ship instead of inside and you’ll definitely see something
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In a future cruise you can buy a tiny and cheap microscope (ex https://carson.com/product-category/microscopes/pocket-microscopes/ ), grab a glass of seawater and look at plankton…
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That’s a fun sentence to explain to a non-birder 
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That had not occurred to me.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Masked_Booby/id
The first observation in my life of that bird species. Great reminder… thank you!
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Join the Never Home Alone project to report the stoways on the boat.
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Thanks for the link to that amazing group!
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Some of the best iNatting I’ve done was with an outdoor adventure cruise line to Alaska, on Uncruise . It’s a small ship company with a variety of ship sizes, the largest of which takes only 99 passengers. Uncruise is all-inclusive (no extra fees for beverages or meals, and all excursions are included). The trips we went on had 4-5 naturalists and guides for hiking, talks, kayaking, and at least one trip includes a cycling option. They offered a variety of activity levels from gentle nature walks and easy kayaking to longer power user kayak/hike outings.
I would not usually promote a company, but I do think Uncruise offers amazing adventures for naturalist-minded folks. Over the years, they expanded beyond Pacific Northwest waterways to Hawaii and some Central and South America destinations.
If you are interested in combining the comfort and great food of a cruise with the opportunity to explore biodiversity in amazing locales, I do think Uncruise is a great option.
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Would that be a wild or captive observation?
Wild. Those organisms are neither intentionally brought there by humans nor are they being taken care for by them.
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