The Petrel Station Team
Tutukaka, New Zealand
With small tour group sizes, The Petrel Station offers a very personal birdwatching and wildlife experience — guided by the people who know these waters and seabirds best.
Scott Brooks
Founder of The Petrel Station, main seabird guide, lead researcher, and passionate seabird enthusiast.
Scott founded The Petrel Station in 2017, turning a passion for seabirds into one of the most well-regarded single-day pelagic seabird tour experiences in New Zealand, and the world! He loves being out on the ocean with these remarkable seabirds in their natural environment, with all the stunning species and unique seabird experiences that occur, and of course, never quite knowing what might turn up on a tour adds to the excitement.
A real highlight for Scott is sharing this experience with everyone who comes on the seabird tours and seeing the thrill, excitement, and joy guests get when encountering these stunning seabirds offshore. Every tour is different, and that is a huge part of what makes The Petrel Station so special — different seasons, different seabirds, different conditions, and different people all combine to make every day out on the water memorable.
Another highlight for Scott is that alongside the tours, The Petrel Station also runs a long-term at-sea research project recording seabird diversity, abundance, and seasonal movement offshore from Tutukaka. The research has already highlighted just how diverse and important this seabird hotspot is, and why New Zealand is rightly regarded as the seabird capital of the world.
Scott has also organised pelagic seabird expeditions to the Three Kings Islands and the outstanding Kermadec Islands, with hopes of doing more again in the future.
Gary Setterfield
English seabird fanatic, superb spotter, and seabird guide.
Originally from the UK, Gary has had a life long passion for birds and in particular seabirds. His love of seabirds started as a 13 year old when he saw his first Sooty shearwater during a seawatch off the Kent coast of England, he still remembers the thrill and he was hooked!
After that first encounter, Gary spent many hours as a teenager staring out to sea, counting birds moving past and fantasising that a mythical bird like a petrel or albatross would one day cross his field of view … it never happened.
Fast forward 40 years, and after raising a family, having a successful career, and now living in New Zealand, Gary found himself with time on his hands. As a lifelong seabird enthusiast, a tour out to The Petrel Station was a must — and after just a single trip he was hooked on seabirds all over again.
Gary has now been on the majority of tours since his first trip in 2022 and is a fantastic seabird spotter. He plays an important role onboard, helping pick out and count species and assisting guests with their target birds.
Gary loves meeting people, loves seabirds and loves tricky ID species so a day on the water with The Petrel Station tours and being part of the seabird research is a day in heaven for him!
Luke Nobilo, and the boat
Exceptionally experienced skipper, expert local knowledge, and great seabird spotter.
Luke has over two decades of hands-on experience running charter boats in some of New Zealand’s most challenging coastal waters, including the Three Kings Islands, Ranfurly Banks, and the South Island’s west coast. He is calm, highly capable, very experienced and exactly the kind of skipper people feel reassured to be with offshore.
He’s also a great seabird spotter, often picking up birds before anyone else onboard. Combined with his experience on the water, Luke is a hugely valuable part of The Petrel Station team.
The boat we use has fantastic all round viewing for exceptional seabird spotting and photography opportunities. You can walk completely around the boat so you can easily get great views and track the seabirds as they fly around us.
The boat is 30.5 feet long x 10 feet wide and has basic onboard facilities onboard for a full day at sea. For further information about the boat and it’s facilities, see our FAQs.
We are all easy-going, friendly people who work hard to make sure everyone who joins The Petrel Station seabird tours has an amazing day out and a very memorable seabirding experience. We are hugely passionate about the seabirds we encounter and genuinely love sharing our excitement, knowledge, and this special part of New Zealand with everyone who comes onboard.
Check out the outstanding Tour Reviews we regularly receive from our seabird tour guests.
Experience these stunning seabirds for yourself
Join The Petrel Station seabird tours for a memorable day offshore among New Zealand’s extraordinary seabird life.
Get some merch
Take home a piece of The Petrel Station with our official team Tshirts, hats, caps and pin badges.
Check out our tour reports
See what’s been recorded on The Petrel Station seabird tours across the seasons — from standout seabird diversity and scarcer species, to major feeding frenzies and memorable offshore encounters.