Friday, 25 July 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: after some midnight tours of late on which it was hard to find whales, this one was providing us with a strange feeling and the rainy weather and poor visibility did not help. However, only minutes after leaving Reykjavik, we came across some Harbour Porpoises. They moved off straight away though and as this species tends to be elusive of boats, we decided to leave them in peace and continue searching for something bigger. That came in the shape of some delightful 8-10 White-beaked Dolphins, which were just as easy going as those we had seen on the afternoon tour, maybe the same ones. We spent a good half an hour with them before leaving them in search of a Minke Whale, one of which came across our path while seemingly having a little midnight snack for in the area we saw it in, there was some fish on the surface according to the fishfinder. It surfaced calmly on many occasions and clearly was not bothered with our presence whatsoever. Meanwhile, we could see the backs and dorsal fins of the odd Harbour Porpoise popping us as well. One of the last but also one of the best midnight tours of this summer then ended with our onboard trubador entertaining us while we sailed back.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Blue skies with some small sheep clouds were to massager of the beautiful tour ahead of us when we left for the bay of Faxaflói. Initially we encountered a Minke Whale surfacing regularly and up to 60m close to the vessel. The individual seemed to be in the pursue of food. Another Minke Whale was spotted about a 500m away when a large surface roll from this individual was letting us know that there was indeed a lot of food around and the whales were after it. However, as soon as we approached this individual its seemed shy and elusive. Thus, we made for some jumping White-beaked Dolphins. About 4 pods each 5-7 individuals strong were milling in the same general area. Some smaller individuals even showed some leaps and came close to the vessel. Already on our way back another Minke Whale made himself aware to us due to a larger splash. This individual was almost instantly identified as Humpie, a Minke Whale we have seen every year since 2007. Humpie was surfacing staggering 7 times before finally saying good bye and submerging. A grand final for this afternoon's tour.

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: given our success with the Minkes this morning, we thought that this tour would be the same. However, we only saw 1 Minke Whale, minutes after leaving Reykjavik. It surfaced three or four times but then vanished. Off we went in search of his counterparts but before we got far, we got a call from another boat that they had a pod of White-beaked Dolphins and we went in their direction. It was not easy to spot the dolphins as the visibility was bad, foggy and rainy, but this turned out to be a pod of 12-15 that was feeding, yet not with any speed but in a very docile manner. They often came close to us so excellent dolphins they were! After about twenty minutes of them, we thought it was time for some Minke Whales and went off in search of them but despite searching for 40-50 minutes, not a single one was seen. Finally some more dolphins, now doing a bit of leaping into the air as part of their feeding strategy, entertained us before going back to Reykjavik.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was beautiful as we headed out and after only about 30 minutes sail we spotted 4-6 Harbour porpoises that surfaced in front of the boat. They seemed to be quite elusive so we continued our search. It wasn't very long until we spotted our first Minke whale out of 3 different individuals that we saw in the tour. We were able to watch the minke surface for a few times and got a good look at it. As the minke disappeared it started raining, but lucky for us it only lasted for a few minutes. After a short search we spotted a pod of 6-8 White-beaked dolphins that surfaced around the boat and even took a dive right under it so we were able to see their whole body under the surface! We watched them for some time before we decided to head further out and search for some more animals. It seemed like the bay was crowded with life because we didn't have to search for long before we spotted another minke whale. this individual surfaced slowly and very close to the boat. It allowed us to get a good view before it swam away. On our way back to the harbour we spotted the third minke whale as well as 2 pods of 12-16 White-beaked dolphins. We watched the animals as they played in the waves from the boat and we could see that there were a few youngs ( baby dolphins) among the group!What a great ending to the tour!- Freydís Ósk

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: the skies were pouring down with rain as we went out but soon it dried up, however it started raining again from time to time. We did see 1 Minke Whale first from about a kilometer distance and sailed towards it but after seeing it surfacing a few times, we lost it. Then we kept searching and the route towards our sistership Hafsúlan brought us through an area that was clearly a good food source for birds, based on their sheer number, especially Manx' Shearwater but also Common Guillemot, Puffin, and more species. Among them were at least two and probably three fantastic Minke Whales feeding and we got some excellent close-ups. Leaving the area, we saw one or two in a distance but then landed in an area that was just as good, plenty of birds too there and at least two further Minke Whales so all in all 7-10 Minke Whales on this tour, plus a few Harbour Porpoises very briefly. Apart from the rain, it was a perfect morning.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Light rain and fog followed the boat out to sea this morning, but soon the weather lightened up. For a long time we were not able to see more than various birds. Suddenly the captain spotted some 4-6 White-beaked Dolphins, which disappeared too quickly as to give us a proper look at them. However, word reached us just in time to discover 2 Minke Whales feeding in midst of a flock of sea birds. Many Northern Gannets dove down, whilst the whales were feeding around us undisturbed, sometimes close, sometimes further away. One Minke Whale showed a sub-surface roll, only to be identified by a large turquoise patch (the white ventral grooves) the disturbed surface water. Meanwhile the other whale were displaying its pointy rostrum and two blowholes close by the boat when it surfaced with high velocity. On the way back another Minke Whale popped up just before we reached the harbour area.

-Dominik Schmid

Birds seen on todays tour include: Atlantic Puffin, Northern Fulmar, Northern Gannet, Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Eider Duck, Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Black-Backed Gull.