Friday, 12 December 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: after two days of cancelled tours due to storm, we needed something to lift our spirits and that came in the shape of 2-3 orcas merely half and hour from Reykjavik. They were actually not found by us but by another Elding boat that was out on a private tour so once we went out, we knew exactly where to go. We spotted the tall dorsal fin of a male first and found him lolling around with his female companionship; maybe feeding, maybe not, the fishfinder did not reveal anything. Most of the time they were some distance apart, maybe checking seperate areas for food, usually the female on the left side and the male on the right. They were spending some time under the surface so we did have to show patience but when they were on the surface, we were rewarded for it. After a jolly good time with them, we decided to give them a break and have a bit of a drive around to see if we might find something else as well but nothing else was seen, however we were so happy about our orca encounter to bother. On the journey back to Reykjavik, we spotted the orcas again and stopped to say goodbye, by which time they seemed to be heading southwest at a fast pace, at least 6-8 mph. Hopefully they will still be around tomorrow and for that matter for a while more!

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Birds seen on today's tour include: black-backed gulls, iceland gulls, glaucus gulls, eider ducks, european shags.