The unexpected vantage point that unlocks the world's best birdwatching

Making eye contact with an albatross, flying almost within arm's reach, I wonder how else this experience could happen. Cruising along at the same pace, at the same height, we can look at each other side-by-side in a way that's only possible on a high deck of an expedition ship. I grin goofily, marvelling at this cool connection with a wild and free creature, wondering if he's thinking the same thing. It's a simple moment that lasts five seconds and turns me into a twitcher.

I start looking for more birdy encounters on cruises. In the Scottish Isles, I join a hike on the tiny island of Staffa, where puffins are known to gather. Beyond my expectations, we find hundreds of them nesting on a clifftop.

As they fly in from the Atlantic Ocean, they touch down on the grass in front of us. For an hour, we giggle at their furious flapping and clownish faces. (Sorry, puffins, you're just too cute.)

Arctic cruises often stop at Bear Island, which has no bears but thousands of seabirds. Zipping around in a zodiac with Atlas Ocean Voyages, we see more puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills, gannets and little auks.

These same species can be found at Gjesvaerstappan, near Norway's North Cape, where boat safaris are offered as excursions on Havila Voyages, Royal Caribbean, Viking, Princess, MSC and Celebrity, Cruises.

The Galapagos is home to huge numbers of endemic bird species, especially on North Seymour Island, an overwhelming scene of swooping, squawking and shagging. Unfazed by human presence, blue-footed boobies perform their adorable mating dance.

But my jaw drops when I witness a great frigatebird inflate his red throat like a balloon, bloated to half his body size. Weird way to flirt with females, but fascinating.