Monday, 16 June 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Hafsúlan: The ocean was smooth as a mirror as we headed out this evening. We had only sailed for a couple of minutes as we spotted our first Harbour porpoise out of 2-3 that we saw this tour. After about 30 minutes we spotted a Minke whale in the distance. The animal surfaced around us between frequent and long deep dives. It was hard to spot the animal so after a while we decided to head further. After a few minutes we saw numerous dorsal fins surfacing in the distance, it was a pod of 8-10 White-beaked dolphins! We got good look at the dolphins as they seemed to be very calm and surfaced around the boat. As we kept on searching we spotted 2 more minke whales. One of them was like the first one and took frequent deep dives but the last one was obviously traveling and we got a great look at the animal as it surfaced close to the boat. Although we didn't see the midnight sun tonight because of the cloud cover, the weather was amazing. Also the cetaceans were calm and easy to spot, even though they were far away. great evening in faxaflói bay with 3 species of cetaceans!- Freydís Ósk

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind was slightly stronger than on the 13:00 Tour and made the first small white caps on the ocean. The sky was almost cloud free at the beginning of the tour, and we were surrounded by blue water under sunshine. This changed continuously until the sky was completely overcast and the sea turned from blue over gold, silvery, grey to whitish. We found our first elusive Minke Whale and we went on where we saw another one which was not so easy to watch, so we carried on where we found others. At the third stop everybody got the chance to have a good look at this species. It appeared like there had been 3 minkes around. One of them surfaced quite close and twice we could see a steep rising of one minke showing his pointed snout and even part of his white chin and its extendable throat (rorqual pleats). In between the minkes we made out 4-6 pods of Harbour Porpoises and everybody got the chance to spot their tiny bodies (compared to the minkes) and almost triangular shaped dorsal fins. Sometimes we even observed the porpoises in the surroundings of a minke and had so a direct comparison. Then our time was up and we headed back looking at Reykjavik and Akranes agleaming in the sunlight.

-Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: This afternoon was a lot brighter than this morning but the wind had picked up a bit. This time, there was no mackerel to be seen in the harbour but the minke whales were still all over. Again, they were surfacing everywhere, still feeding in the surface along with lots of arctic terns. Very nice. After having spent most of the tour with various minkes, we decided to look for dolphins. We found them as we saw their splashes in the distance, but as we got closer the splashes had disappeared and the dolphins were not found. When we were almost in the harbour again, the last big minke whale surfaced only meters from the boat. What a nice end of an amazing tour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: There was just very little wind and still grey sky and bright sea but no rain as we sailed into Faxaflói Bay. During the trip the sky cleared up, the sun was shining in the blue sky, while the other half of the sky was cloud covered, turning the sea into silver shining up to different gradients of blue. We met up to 6 Minke whales; some of them came quite close and did let us observe them very well. At times we had 3 surfacing at one side of the boat in short intervals while there were the chatting arctic terns fishing on the other side. After we spent some time with them we made an extra circle where we saw some really high leaps of a pod of White-beaked dolphins at the horizon. As we approached them they were still quite active and did some more leaps but not that high ones anymore. This pod was divided into 2-3 subgroups swimming in small groupings of 2-4 animals each. From time to time they were speeding up and producing splashes while surfacing or even showed us their entire body when leaping out of the water or while bow riding. We could clearly sea their short snouts and their black and white pattern which looks like an artistic body painting. After having a close look at them we observed them heading away and we turned back to Reykjavik with a lot of beautiful impressions from the trip, from sea life to landscape. We even passed two more minkes on our way back and were happy about what we experienced.

-Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We left Reykjavík under an overcast rainy sky but as we headed out on the bay, it stopped raining and the clouds started to clear up. As we sailed out of the harbour, we were greeted by a school of mackerel! After about half an hour, we spotted the first minke whales and from then on, they were all over the place, surrounding us. Some came quite close, others kept a distance, some we could hear, others we could smell and they were feeding in the surface, most of them surfacing frequently, showing of their head as they lunged out of the water. On the way back, a large pod of leaping white-beaked dolphins was seen and we spent about 20 minutes with them before heading back. All in all there were about 8 minkes and 18 dolphins. We even got some sun towards the end of the tour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning we sailed out onto Faxa bay and were greeted by amazing conditions. The seas were calm and the sky was overcast, creating perfect conditions for whale watching. At first there was a bit rain but it soon cleared up and it stayed dry. Soon after we had sailed past the Grótta Lighthouse we thought we saw something surface but it didn't surface again, so we couldn't confirm our suspicions. We sailed onward very confident because of the excellent conditions and we soon found our first cetacean of the day, a minke whale! This individual was quite elusive though and we only got a couple of good looks before it swam off. There was a lot of food in the area however and we found a few more individuals quite quickly. These were quite social and surfaced all around us, both up close and in the distance. We got a very good look at these individuals from most sides of the boat and could see their head and back very clearly. Topping it all of were some Harbour porpoises who surface right next to the minkes and proved very fun to look at in between the surfacing of the minkes. All in all a good tour and we headed back to Reykjavik in good spirits.

- Ívar Elí