Friday, 20 June 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Hafsúlan: It was a difficult tour this evening with the strong swell on the way out of the bay and the very elusive minke whales. We did encounter one minke whale though which surfaced twice, but very low so that you could barely see the whale, the waves didn´t really help either. We searched some more for others but minke whales were obviously finshed for the day and wanted to left in peace. These are wild animals and that is exactly how we like to observe them. We offered our passengers complimentary tickets in the hope they will join us for another free whale watching tour in the next two years. On the way home as we travelled with the wind the ride was a lot smoother and our passengers enjoyed the great musical talents of Bjarni and Þorgils.

-Sigurlaug and Megan

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It looked a bit more rainy as we headed out at 5pm. Fortunately for us, we managed to stay dry throughout almost the entire tour! After more than an hour on what looked like quite a lifeless bay, we saw a minke whale that came up frequently and close to the boat. Sometimes preceded by a vigorous blow! Very nice. After having spent a good amount of time with this minke whale we decided to head into another area but did not find anything there. On the way back, a passenger spotted a whale which never surfaced again and we had to head back because we were already running out of time. Nice tour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The wind was creating some white caps and there was still swell. We had just very little drizzling rain, so we mainly stayed dry. After a while we smelled and saw our first stinky Minke Whale but we couldn´t track it for long and we are not quite sure if it was due to longer diving periods or just being hidden behind the waves. We continued in hope that we will find another one which is in mood to be observed. We had a second chance with another minke which was similar to the first encounter. So we headed off for a third try where we finally found a whale which we could observe a bit closer and several times. With this whale suddenly 2-3 Harbour Porpoises appeared out of nowhere close by the minke and we had a short glimpse at them. Happy that everybody managed to spot these whales we turned back to the harbour.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The winds had gotten even calmer as we headed out this afternoon. The sun was shining and it looked quite promising, but what do you know! It turned out to be a difficult tour. At first we spotted a minke whale that vanished after only surfacing twice. The same thing repeated itself about 20 minutes later. Very frustrating. These minkes really were not showing themselves well. The third minke whale that we found was a lot better, providing some nice views but from quite a distance. While observing it, a pod of about 6 harbour porpoises approached us and swam underneath the boat. Beautiful day out today but the sightings could have been better. That's nature.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The last few days we had an almost constant rain over Reykjavík but this morning we were lucky to be dry! Though there was some wind and the swell was higher than it has been recently, it is summer though so it was never uncomfortable and the wind was still quite warm. As we sailed out we had heard news of whales around an hour out of the city and this would be very true, this would be our first Minke Whale. This first whale didn´t stick around for very long though, only showing itself a few times. So we searched for another and found another! This was another minke that wasn´t much fun and only after finding a third Minke Whale did we finally have real success. This one appeared out of nowhere like our guardian angel and was resting and milling in the area. It was very visible at the surface and was very calm even very near the boat. It was the minke we were all waiting for and because it came at the end of the tour it made everything sweeter and we all had good memories as we sailed back to Reykjavík.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning, the bay looked a bit rainy. Soon after we had set out, the clouds started to lift and the scenery around us emerged. After about an hour, the first minke whale was seen. At one point it very suddenly surfaced just meters from the boat! After having spent some time with it, we headed further out to find another minke whale. In the end, we must have see 3 or 4 minke whales that were spread out over quite a large area. Towards the end of the tour, the sun even started shining. Great day on the Faxaflói bay in improving weather.

-Arnór Tumi

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