Saturday, 05 April 2014

Tour at 13:00Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had picked up a bit since this morning but the visability for whale spotting was still very good. We headed out towards the area where we were this morning and only after a couple of minutes of sailing we spotted a pod of 4-6 Harbour Porpoises, we were able to get a good look at them but like they are known for, they disappeared soon. We headed further out and only after about 30-40 minutes of sailing we spotted a big blow in the distance! We headed towards it and on our way we met a Minke Whale! There were a few minke's in the area, maybe 5-6 animals, but they were moving very quickly and taking long deep dives so it was hard to keep up with them. Again we saw the blow and it came from a Humpback Whale. There were actually 2 humpbacks in the area so while we watched one of them we could see the blows from the second one further away. It was the same with the humpbacks as the minke's they seemed to be moving fast but we got a very good look at both of the species while they surfaced close to the boat. After watching one of the humpbacks for a good amount of time we decided to head furhter out and try to find more animals to minimum the disturbance for the humpback. We only had to sail for a short distance when we found more minke's, there was even a time when we could watch two minke's surface at once almost side by side very close to the boat!When our time was almost up we decided to look for the humpbacks to get one more good look at them before we left. We found one of them after some close scanning and we got a great look at the animal which ended our tour by taking a deep dive and waving us good bye by showing it's fluke. It was a good afternoon with the cetaceans and it looks like our beautiful bay is filling up with wild life! 

- FreydísTour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan and Elding: It was a Humpback Feeding frenzy this morning. There seemed to be blows from Humpback Whales every direction you turned. Most were about 40-50 minutes sailing from the harbour on a nice calm sea but a chilly wind. We had two whale watching vessels out this morning as a large school group from Walgrave, England joined us. There must have been at least 4 Humpbacks in the area and more blows in the distance. They were feeding mad which was great for us as they surfaced with water escaping from the mouth and showing their enormous flukes as they went for a deep dive. They even surfaced just a couple of meters from our boat many times too. Incredible experience to have an massive wild animal feeling so comfortably in our presence. We also saw a couple of scattered Minke Whales and a few small pods of 3-5 Harbour Porpoises. A perfect wildlife morning.- Freydís & Megan

Birds seen on todays tour include: Northern Gannets, Northern Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Black-Backed Gulls, Glaucous Gulls, Eider Ducks, Shags.