Monday, 28 July 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: Though there had been some rain over the course of the day we had a nice dry tour, add that to clear sky over the volcano Snæfellsjökull and we had weather that was just... spectacular. Trying to describe the sunset tonight is pretty difficult, across the whole night the sky was a constant array of different colours with the end being a blood red sky over the volcano in the distance. But of course we were also here for whale watching, we managed to see one Minke Whale in this tour. It may have been just one whale but it was a really good one, this whale was very calmly swimming at the surface so we had a great and long look at this whale before it made a sudden disappearance. More searching brought up no more whales but the highlight was seeing the sunset, nothing like the light shimmering across the ocean as we sail back to Reykjavík with fantastic live music to accompany us.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind almost stopped blowing and the swell flattened out through the trip. Finally we had perfect spotting conditions as the white rain clouds and their reflection on the water surface were a perfect contrast to the dark bodies of cetaceans. After searching a while we came to a fish rich area with up to 7 minke whales and 2 white-beaked dolphins. The 2 dolphins we just saw a short time as they were constantly heading away and we stayed with the minkes. Our eyes were switching between the different individuals, one moment there were 4 whales surfacing at the same time in a rather small area but as we could see quite far we even spotted some further away. But then it came even better as first two of this usually solitary individuals started to mill and feed synchronously less than a body length apart or even side by side. The were coordinating their behaviour very well and surfacing several times simultaneously, mostly one slightly behind the other probably catching the fish which escaped from the one feeding in front. It looked like they were feeding close to the surface as sometimes when their snout tip broke through the surface we could see the mouth closing the last bit. Then suddenly there appeared a third joining this choreography. It was a very beautiful and rare sight as this behaviour is more common among humpback whales than minkes. We enjoyed these whales in this area for around half an hour before we had to return to Reykjavik. What a great tour despite rain!

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The weather this afternoon was a bit more windy but conditions were still good as we headed out again. Close to the harbour we got reports of a minke whale in our area and searched the area well before heading further out. Once further out we spotted something in the distance and soon found our first Minke whale of the tour. We saw this individual surface in front of us a few times but like the minke this morning it was quite elusive and soon headed off elsewhere. We then headed further out and searched north towards Akranes. Much like the 10‘o clock tour this morning we spotted white-beaked dolphins just as we were about to turn back. These individuals were really fun to watch, we got to see one breach out of the water and observed that there was a calf travelling with the pod. An excellent ending before we headed back to Reykjavík.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out onto the Faxaflói bay in a south-easterly breeze. We were barely out of the harbour when we got to see the first minke whale! It was coming up quite close to us, maintaining a steady course and speed and we got some very nice looks at it before it disappeared all of a sudden. After this very nice start, we headed further north and after about 45 minutes more, we sailed into an area where it was crowded with all kinds of sea birds which appeared to be feeding. A lot of fish was to be seen on the fish finder and so appareantly we had entered a very lifely area. But it took us a while of sailing around in this area until we finally found a second minke whale. It was obviously feeding, changing its course a lot but came up a few times quite close to us so that we got some very nice looks at it. But this minke whale like the first one disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. On the way back, we found a third minke but it was not surfacing frequently and only showing off from a distance. We would have wished for some more sightings, but the sightings that we did get were very good.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: This morning conditions were good as we set sail from Reykjavik harbour out onto Faxa bay. As we got further out the wind picked up a bit but did not affect sighting conditions all that much. We reached thTour at 10:00

Report from Elding: This morning conditions were good as we set sail from Reykjavik harbour out onto Faxa bay. As we got further out the wind picked up a bit but did not affect sighting conditions all that much. We reached the main whale watching area and soon got word of a cetacean in the area. Turning to look for the animal we quickly spotted a minke whale! This individual was quite elusive however and we didn‘t get a very good look at it. Our search continued on for a while and we were almost at the point where we had to turn back when we spotted a pod of White-beaked dolphins, these animals got very close to our boat and we were able to observe them as they surfaced only twenty metres away from the boat! A very good ending to this tour.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sky was completely covered but it was apart from occasionally light rain mostly dry. The sea conditions were much better than expected, not much swell and a bit of wind forming some white crests. Out in the grey Faxaflói we found 3 times white-beaked dolphins. The first encounter was very short of a grouping of 4-5 individuals travelling. The second sighting was a bit longer and as the 4-5 individuals were milling we saw the from different angles and once they even approached us so that we could see their white and black pattern very well, even for a moment under water. After they started travelling away from us we lost them out of sight but we found probably a third pod of again around 4-5 animals which we left after a short while in favour of a minke whale. At the beginning this minke was quite challenging to observe but the patience finally paid out when he came closer and everybody got the chance to have a proper look at this whale. So we managed to see two different species even we hoped to spend a bit more time watching them.

- Carine Zimmermann

Birds seen on today's tours include: Northern gannets, puffins, manx shearwaters, red-necked phalaropes, storm petrels, fulmars, common guillemots, black guillemot, arctic terns, arctic skuas, lesser black-backed gulls and kittiwakes.