Goa Pelagic Arabian Sea Seabird Trip

The Mrugaya Xpeditions Goa Pelagic is one of India's few dedicated, publicly bookable offshore seabird trips — a full-day voyage from Mormugao Harbour into the open Arabian Sea, led by Goa's most experienced naturalist birding team. The operator, Mrugaya Xpeditions, is based in Vasco da Gama in South Goa and is run by Omkar Dharwadkar, widely regarded as one of the finest naturalists in the state of Goa, and Parag Rangnekar, State Co-ordinator for the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) and founder-President of the Goa Bird Conservation Network. Together, they have spent many years exploring the pelagic waters off the Goa coast — a marine environment they describe as "very little explored for pelagic birds" — and the trip represents the most accessible and systematically organised offshore birding product on India's western seaboard.

The trip departs from Vasco Jetty at approximately 06:00, where participants assemble and are ferried out to a larger fishing trawler that serves as the pelagic platform for the day. The trawler heads due west into the Arabian Sea, spending approximately thirteen hours at sea before returning. Breakfast and lunch are provided on board; mineral water and all taxes are included in the price of ₹3,000 per person — making this a remarkably affordable deep-water seabirding experience by international standards. The boat's slow cruising speed and the use of a fishing trawler (as opposed to a fast sportfisher) allows relaxed observation of birds flying alongside and settling around the vessel. The eBird hotspot "Pelagic trip off the coast of Goa (OBI)" (L14891846), logged at Mormugao Harbour, has accumulated a documented history of seabird observations stretching back to at least 2014, with organised trips confirmed in eBird checklist notes as recently as October 2025.

The primary avian target of a Goa pelagic is the Persian Shearwater (Puffinus persicus), a medium-sized, dark-backed shearwater of the north-western Indian Ocean. Its principal breeding colonies are on the Kuria Muria (Khuriya Muriya) Islands off the Dhofar coast of southern Oman and on Socotra (Yemen), from which it disperses broadly across the Arabian Sea. The waters off the west coast of India — and the Goa region in particular — are known foraging habitat for this species during the post-breeding dispersal period from August through at least December. Indian ocean waters are also home to Wilson's Storm-Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), the world's most numerically abundant seabird: an extraordinary intercontinental migrant that breeds in sub-Antarctic colonies and moves north into the Arabian Sea during the northern hemisphere summer and autumn in large numbers. Wilson's Storm-Petrels are documented at the Goa offshore eBird hotspot and are a consistent feature of productive pelagic days off the Goa coast.

Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates monorhis) is arguably the most sought-after species on a Goa pelagic by visiting international birders. This medium-sized, all-dark storm-petrel breeds on small islands off China, Korea, and Japan, and undertakes a remarkable transoceanic migration south and west into the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal during the northern hemisphere's non-breeding season. Its occurrence in Indian waters is poorly documented and actively studied, and a confirmed Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel — distinguishable from Wilson's by its larger size, forked tail, less fluttery flight, and the absence of yellow-webbed feet — represents a notable record from any Indian Ocean pelagic. The Goa eBird hotspot list documents this species from the offshore waters, and it remains a genuine target on the Mrugaya trips.

Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) is the large, black-and-white booby of tropical oceans that regularly appears on Goa pelagics, plunge-diving spectacularly into the sea alongside the vessel. Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) is typically the most numerous seabird on these trips, seen in loose flocks resting on driftwood or fishing flotsam and sallying out to pick small fish from the sea surface. Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) and Lesser Crested Tern (T. bengalensis) are regularly noted on the outbound and inbound legs near the coast. Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Roseate Tern (S. dougallii), and Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) are also recorded. Parasitic Jaeger (Arctic Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus) appears on productive offshore days, harrying the terns in its characteristic kleptoparasitic fashion. Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) and White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Icthyophaga leucogaster) are often seen near the port and inshore waters on departure and return.

Goa's position on the eastern side of the Arabian Sea places it on the outer margin of the monsoon-driven upwelling zone that makes Omani and Yemeni waters so spectacularly productive for seabirds from June to September. The post-monsoon window of October and November — when the sea calms after the south-west monsoon ends — is the primary season for the Mrugaya pelagic trips, and this is when Persian Shearwater is most reliably encountered in dispersing numbers. The continental shelf off Goa extends approximately 120 kilometres westward before the sea floor plunges into the deeper Arabian Sea basin; on a thirteen-hour day trip the boat reaches into the outer shelf waters rather than the true open ocean, but the depth transition and associated oceanographic features are sufficient to concentrate genuine pelagic seabirds.

Beyond the birds, the trip offers regular encounters with Indo-Pacific Common Dolphins and occasionally other cetaceans, as well as Olive Ridley Sea Turtles, sea snakes, flying fish, and the extraordinary experience of being out of sight of land in one of the world's great tropical oceans. The waters off Goa are largely un-photographed and undocumented in birding literature relative to the attention paid to the North Atlantic, making every Mrugaya Goa Pelagic trip a genuine scientific contribution: eBird pelagic protocol data submitted from the "Pelagic trip off the coast of Goa (OBI)" hotspot builds the baseline of Indian Ocean seabird knowledge.

To book, contact Mrugaya Xpeditions via email at [email protected] or by WhatsApp on +91 9309385711. Additional contact numbers: +91 9822129811 and +91 9049911877. Current pricing is ₹3,000 per person for the full-day trip including all meals and guiding. October and November are the primary pelagic season; check directly with Mrugaya for confirmed departure dates and availability. A second Goa-based operator, Untamed West (untamedwest.in, WhatsApp +91 8007108061), also runs offshore pelagic trips from Vasco Jetty and is worth contacting for alternative dates.