Saturday, 07 June 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This evening the fantastic weather of the day was still present and this evening we found ourselves three species! Earlier in the day we found two species which we see almost every day but this evening we had a third species that we see once every few days. It took us around an hour to find the first two, one Harbour Porpoise and a Minke Whale. Even right at the start we had the minke coming very close to the boat. But while this was happening we spotted a pod of White-Beaked Dolphins in the distance, this was a chance we couldn´t miss so we headed straight for them. It was a pod of three dolphins and they were calmly travelling through the area, though they did show off by leaping out of the water several times. After getting a good look we headed back to find more minkes and found two more, one of which we know! This one is named "Teddy", always a pleasure to see an old friend especially as it had been two years since we last met. A really lovely evening that was both relaxing and invigorating.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Luckily, the fog from this morning was just clearing as we left the harbour and did not pose any problems to us this afternoon. What a relief! As we headed further out, even the glacier Snæfellsjökull could be seen from far away. So the conditions and visibility were great and now it would just be up to us to find some whales. We had to sail for an hour until we got into the area where the minke whales were feeding. There were 4 or 5 of them in a moderately big area. Some were swimming along quite calmly but all were changing their course a lot and lots of fish was seen on the fish finder. We got some very nice sightings with the minkes and one of them could even be smelled very distinctly from far away. On the way back, we had the wind blowing from behind so the sailing was smooth and we could enjoy the fantastic scenery that surrounded us. Splendid!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the harbour with a visibility of around 50 m because of the fog all around us. No landscape was seen around as a result. The wind was picking up a bit, but after a short while there was some blue sky ahead and the mountain tops appeared above the mist. Mount Esja was first visible, then the Reykjanes peninsula and later on the whole Snæfellsnes and we had a clear view at Snæfellsjökull. We enjoyed the blue sky and the warming sun. We had several encounters with Harbour Porpoises on the way out; in total there were more then 10 individuals. After a while we found the first of 3 Minke Whales but when more whale watching vessels arrived we moved on and found another 2 relatively close to each other. The first minke was a familiar one called "Shark" which we recognised thanks to 2 nidges on the dorsal fin. In the second minke sighting we had a close look of a bubble producing behaviour of one of the two individuals which was probably feeding in the same area. So what in the beginning seemed to be quite complicated turned out to be a very nice afternoon with good sightings.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was a clear, warm day as we left the harbour this morning. After a while, we could see a fog bank approaching us and suddenly we were surrounded by dense fog! What a shame. We still did our best to scan some areas but with the visibility down to a few hundred meters, it was a difficult quest. We spotted a few pods of harbour porpoises but they were being quite elusive. Not the sightings or conditions that we had hoped for. Our passengers got complimentary tickets. Better luck next time!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: If the whole summer is like this then we will be very happy here at Elding. The weather was once again incredible with blue skies and calm seas, and the animals were not too shabby either. We sailed from Reykjavík and after around 45 minutes found our first species, the Harbour Porpoises. The first ones were elusive but over the whole tour we found around 13 porpoises, and some of them were very happy to come close to the boat and stick around for pictures. A few of the porpoises actually jumped out of the water close to the boat too! But the highlight would have to be our Minke Whales that we saw today, in total there were 5 and we got a great look at them. We had the pleasure of being surrounded by the whales and could see them from all angles. Later on a thick mist decended on the bay and while the mystery added to the sailing fun it made it impossible to see more whales. Icelandic weather at its most unpredictable!

- Jack Ball

Birds seen on todays tours include: Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Black-backed gulls, Arctic skuas, Arctic terns, Common guillemots, Manx shearwaters, Northern gannets.