Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It had calmed down even more this morning when we left the Reykjavík habour. Still, the sky was clear and the temperatures were comfortable. We had sailed for about 40 minutes when the first minke whale was spotted and after that there were about 5 minkes surfacing all around us in a dense area. We turned off the engines and they remained off for almost an hour! We simply did not have to move. The animals were surfacing again and again very close to us, so we could always hear them before they surfaced and thus always knew where to look! Amazing! There were lots of arctic terns feeding too and you could hear their high pitched screaming sounds throughout the tour. On the way back, a small and elusive pod of harbour porpoises were spotted along with two minke whales. Awesome end of a fantastic tour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The whole day we had good conditions and visibility. Soon after we left the harbour 2 Harbour Porpoises appeared for a few seconds and they headed off. After a while we spotted the first Minke Whale in the distance and it appeared several times before we reached the observation zone. As we were finally there we had the choice where to look to watch 1-4 Minkes surfacing in the same moments. There were at least 5 different ones close around us with a lot of feeding arctic terns. A lot of direction changes were going on and the feeding Minkes often surfaced quite close to us or headed our way. Meanwhile, we stayed over an hour with our engine off at the edge of these feast. 2-4 more Minke whales were spotted further away while they merged ahead of us. We were watching, listening and especially smelling these stinky-minkes. It seemed like this solitary animals are living in pods like dolphins because they surfaced often within a body length from each other, sometimes heading opposite ways. The time flew by quickly; there were almost always some whales to observe as they surfaced very frequently. Every one of the few passengers we had on board this afternoon had good sighting chances and also the children enjoyed whale watching.

-Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sun had disappeared at the start of the tour but made its appearance as we sailed back at the end of tour meaning everyone could get a great tan reflecting on a great tour. Sailing out of Reykjavík it took us 45 minutes of sailing to see out first whale, we spotted a Minke Whale around 300m away ahead of us! When we got to the area it turned out there were actually 3 whales here. Our sighting with these whales would last around an hour with a fourth minke joining in towards the end. They were feeding in the area and we were able to turn off the engine of the boat in order to fully appreciate their movement and breathing when they were at the surface. Many times the whales came very close to the boat, once within metres of the front of our boat. This was a very relaxing and satisfying day, and the sun really topped off a nice afternoon.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: On a calm morning we went out in the sunshine to find 4 different Minke Whales which came quite close to the boat. They gave us the chance to have a closer look at their long slender bodies and pointed snouts and even the white on their chin and their pectoral fins when they surfaced close by or lifted their head a bit higher up. We went from one whale to the next as they were some distance from each other and we spent around 15 minutes with each of them. As we headed on to the place where we were told that there are more, they suddenly vanished. With the changing tides the fish on the fish finder had gone, and even back in the area we were before, life seemed to have disappeared. Nevertheless we had a good chance earlier to enjoy nice observations of not just Minke Whales as well the first eight seabirds from the list below.

-Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the harbour under a clear blue sky and headed out on a calm Faxaflói. After about half an hour, we spotted the first minke whale and from then on it was very easy. We spent the tour in this area with minkes surfacing all around us, some of them very close to the boat. Once, we got a glimpse at a few (7 or 8) harbour porpoises but those turned out to be shy and disappeared quickly. All in all, there were at least 8 minke whales and on the way back, we could still see them coming up here and there. The weather stayed fantastic and the visibility allowed us a stunning look at the glacier Snæfellsjökull. Great morning!

-Arnór Tumi

Birds seen on today's tours include: Fulmars, puffins, arctic terns, kittiwakes, black-backed seagulls, arctic skua, manx shearwaters, common guillemots, eider ducks, and razorbills.