Thursday, 07 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather had gotten a bit nicer on this tour and it started out really well. After only about 30 minutes, we found a basking shark! It was feeding in the surface extremely close to our boat, at one point it even touched the boat! We spent around 15 minutes with it until we headed further out. We found two feeding minke whales close to the shore that were apparently feeding. They did not come up very frequently so we decided to leave them. After another 30 minutes, we spotted some white-beaked dolphins and four to five more feeding minke whales in an area with lots of fish and diving northern gannets. One of the dolphins even breached! There were around 12 dolphins in two pods and 6 to 7 minke whales. Very nice. After this, we had to start heading home and enjoyed a beautiful view on the Snæfellsjökull glacier on our way. What a great end of the day.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Much like the tour this morning we started by going out to the Grótta lighthouse, only about 15 minutes away from Reykjavík. Arriving there we found our first animal of the tour, a minke whale! This animal was quite elusive however and quickly swam off after surfacing a few times. Everyone got a look at it though and it was a good start to the tour. Further out was were things got more lively. We found maybe 4-5 more individual minke whales and a pod of about 3-5 harbour porpoises. One minke in particular was very curious and surfaced multiple time quite close to us and even surfaced just 15 metres away from us, An amazing experience, because the size of the minke made it feel like the animal was within petting distance. Following the encounter with the minkes we were sailing back when we found three white-beaked dolphins! Our thirds species of the day so far. This encounter was short but we got an excellent look at these animals as they swam under the front of the boat just underneath the surface. A great tour with all these cetaceans.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The easterly winds had picked up from this morning when we headed out on the bay and it did not take us long to find the first minke whale at Grótta, very close to the shore. There was a huge group of feeding and diving northern gannets there and the minke came up a few times but then disappeared. So we headed further out and after around half an hour, we started seeing lots of harbour porpoises. They were not being shy at all and came up repeatedly very close to us, showing off their tiny black backs. Then, two to three more minke whales started surfacing around us, close enough so that we could hear them breath and really take in their presence. At one point, most of us were looking at harbour porpoises and a minke on the starboard side, when we heard a big splashing sound on the port one. Some of our passengers managed to see the breaching minke whale that was responsible for this splash but most of us missed it. What a bummer! On the way back, two more minkes were spotted close to the shore but they were quite busy feeding and not surfacing frequently. All in all a lively and eventful tour on a nice summer afternoon with around 5 minkes and 15 porpoises.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: Good weather conditions greeted us today as we sailed out onto the bay. The straits were calm and spotting conditions among the best available. This time around we had only gotten to the Grótta Lighthouse by the time we spotted ceteceans. We had been sailing past the lighthouse when a splash was spotted on our left side. Moving to investigate we found a minke whale! This individual soon swam off towards mount Esja but we almost immediately spotted a second minke. This individual was feeding in the area and we got a good look at it as it surfaced around us and even got to see roll in the surface! After a great encounter with the minkes we headed further out, hoping to find cetaceans further out in the bay. We were not disapointed and further out we spotted three White-beaked dolphins. Theses animals are always a joy to watch and this time around was no exception, we saw them surface close to us and even leap out of the water. A fantastic tour with the two minkes and three dolphins!

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sea conditions were quite good today with a bit of cool northerly wind and very little swell. The sky was overcast but the whole tour we stayed dry. The overalls and blanket found good use to keep everybody warm. We had very attentive passengers on board which made a good job in spotting. So they were already pointing out at our first minke whale before the announcement on the microphone. We watched this whale several times coming up while he was travelling quite fast at the beginning and came closer. Early on this minke was identified by our researchers on board as "Peanut" a familiar whale which is seen every year regularly. After he went for a dive we were waiting for him/her to come up and it appeared right next to us in front. As being so close we could hear its breathing, see its blowhole and even notice the white patch on one of its pectoral flipper. After this very close up look we decided to leave "Peanut" behind and we continued with our search and so we found the second minke of this tour. As we were waiting for this whale a dorsal fin of a white-beaked dolphin appeared but this or maybe more which could have been around were difficult to watch but as there was a third minke we went to observe this one. After a while we got then the chance to see more white-beaked dolphins this time we saw a pod of more then 3 and they were milling and travelling and one individual made a flat leap. We had a short look at their nice black and white pattern over their body but they stayed a bit further away. Then we started our way back towards Reykjavik and close to the lighthouse Grótta we found more plunge feeding gannets and 2 more minkes very close to shore feeding in a fish rich area. In between the puffin colonies we stopped once more because the captain saw a harbour porpoise but as quick as it appeared it disappeared again. So seeing 5 minkes and the dolphins was very nice but the highlight was definitely friendly "Peanut".

- Carine Zimmermann