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Friday, 25 June 2010

Tour at 20:30

We began our evening trip at Akurey, one of the two puffin colonies where we saw many puffins, both on the island and flying around us.  Then sailing out into Faxafloi Bay under a light rain, very little wind and a flat calm sea, it was not long until we spotted a large pod of harbour porpoises, perhaps 30 or more in total.  They were extremely playful and seemed to enjoy our company, including the boat wake, jumping completely out of the water many times.  At one point they were circling the boat and were in every direction we looked.  It was so much fun and certainly a crowd pleaser.  After a while, we left them in search of something bigger and bigger it was.  A Minke whale.  Then another and another.  Before we knew it there was a total of 6 Minke whales, however after several tries of gently getting closer they did not seem to be very interested in us, so we left them alone.  After a 25 minute journey further north, we spotted a pod of white beaked dolphins.  They too were not so interested in playing with us, however they did allow us to get very close once or twice to see their beautiful colours.  And finally at the end of our journey we encountered 3 more Minke whales, this time one of them allowed us to come close and with the quietness of the calm sea we could very clearly here her breathe every time she came up.  In fact, sometimes we would hear her before seeing her.  At very good trip indeed and a perfect way of spending the evening under the magical glow of the midnight sun.

 

Tour at 17:00

In very calm sea, mirror like, we headed out again making the first stop at the Puffin island Akurey. It was very nice, lots of Puffins all around and on the island. Then we sailed out to Faxaflói like we do many times a day. We spotted an amazing group of Harbour Porpoises. They came so close to the boat, that we could see the whole body very close to the surface, just 10-20 meters away from us. They surfaced again and again. Absolutely fantastic. But the trip was not over. Many Minke Whales were in the area and specially one of them came very close to the boat many time so out lovely passengers could have a good look at the animal. It was starting to rain when we were heading back to the harbour, heavy rain, so most of the passengers went inside the warm and cosy saloon of Hafsúlan on the way back.

 

Tour at 13:00

We headed straight out again hoping to find the Orcas again. But no luck. Instead we spotted a small group of Harbour porpoises very close to land. It was a nice group which surfaced many times. Then further out a small group of White-beaked dolphins. In the beginning it was difficult to approach them but finally they came quite close to us. A Minke Whale surfaced few hundred meters away from us, then another and on one point we were surrounded by Minke Whales. So three species on this tour. Not bad at all.

 

Tour at 09:00

We started our trip by visiting the puffin island Lundey were we saw lot of Puffins. Then we headed out searching for whales. The weather was very nice. After sailing about 30 minutes the captain spotted something in front of us. A group of Harbour porpoises. We saw them up close a few times before they dove off. Shortly after, we could not believe our eyes. An ORCA family was swimming there slowly. 7 animals together. Two males, three females and two calves. One of the calves was very small, still a little brownish. It was so small and cute. We followed them for a long time and some of them came very close to the boat. It was quite spectacular to watch. Then we headed further out and suddenly a Minke Whale surfaced in front and very close to the boat. What a tour. We watched the Minke Whale surfacing a few times before we headed back to the harbour with full boat of very happy passengers.