Monday, 25 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Due to strong winds and rough seas on the Faxaflói bay, we have had to cancel the 5pm tour. For further information, please stop by the ticket office, send us an email (elding@elding.is) or call +354 519 5000. Weather forecasts from the Icelandic met office can be found on www.vedur.is.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The wind had picked up a little from the morning but we still had an overcast sky which means any large black things coming out of the water are much easier to see. The first thing we did was sail for the area where other boats had spotted some whales, when we got there we managed to get a few very short looks at a minke whale in the area but nothing very satisfying. Then after around 30 minutes more seaching we had earned something very good, this was a second minke whale that was feeding in the area. Normally we will manage to see a whale maybe once or twice close to the boat but this whale was constantly surfacing within just 30 metres of the boat! Good things clearly do come to those who wait as this was a great show from this whale, we could even see both blowholes very clearly on the top of the head of the whale. It had taken a while but it was definitely worth the wait.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had picked up as we left the harbour this afternoon. We decided to sail by Grótta to try and avoid the swell but did not find anything there so we headed out onto the bay, towards the area where we had found Humpy, the minke whale this morning. When we arrived there, we did indeed find a minke whale. It was not Humpy this time, but it showed off very well, surfacing frequently and occasionally lunge feeding in the surface. We spent around 30 to 40 minutes with it before we decided to give it a break and keep a distance. Two harbour porpoises were spotted as they surfaced around 8 times unusually close to the boat. Then, as we had started to head towards the city, the minke whale came up one last time only meters from the boat, so that we could hear it breathe! What an awesome goodbye! Unfortunately, the seas were still rough and some of our passengers got sea sick but the sightings we got were excellent!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We were posed with difficult conditions this morning but that certainly didn´t stop us from finding some whales! There was some rain and some swell in the sea as we sailed out but the rain eventually cleared and the visibility improved. As we sailed out we managed to find a single harbour porpoise that was passing through the area, as usual for this species though it didn´t stay around for long before diving down and disappearing. We had a much better look at an animal a little later when we found a minke whale that was feeding. We could track its movement by the birds in the sky that were feeding on the same food as the whale, this made seeing it much easier. Because it was feeding at the surface it never dived for very long too, this meant we got to have a really close and frequent look at this whale. Basically everything you could want! This was the best part of the tour and was definitely a whale everyone could enjoy.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind was calmer than expected when we headed out on the Faxaflói bay this morning. Unfortunately, it was quite rainy so at times, the visibility was quite poor. Nevertheless, we did find a minke whale after around an hour. It turned out to be a known and identified individual that has been seen regularly in Faxaflói since 2008, called Humpy. It was feeding in an area where there were lots of birds around, among them diving northern gannets. It came up regularly and sometimes very close to us. We stayed with Humpy for a good while until we decided to head further out. After that, we sailed through a big area before heading back but did not find any more whales. Unfortunately, some of our passengers got sea sick since there was quite a deep swell on the bay today.

-Arnór Tumi

Birds seen on today's tour include: Northern gannets, puffins, arctic terns, guillemots, lesser black-backed gulls, fulmars, manx shearwaters, storm petrels and kittiwakes