Monday, 2 March 2015

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: we decided to move the boat from Grindavik to Sandgerði for today's tours as the eastern wind would have made it difficult to go out from Grindavik but it would be easier from Sandgerði. Gulli, the captain that moved the boat, told us when we arrived with the passengers that he had seen a humpback whale outside the harbour in Sandgerði when arriving so off we went already in great excitement. Half a mile or so outside the harbour entrance was a flock of feeding seabirds and there it was, along with a mate, 2 humpback whales! Altogether 40-70 tons of joy! They were feeding and the seabirds were clearly making use of their effort as, since the seagulls cannot dive for fish, they like to pick up what the whales drive up to the surface. The sea conditions were rather rough so at times it was difficult to follow the odd couple as it went between feeding locations but it was a joyous tour. We returned to Sandgerði, feeling confident that next tour would be just as good, with the same whales but better conditions as the wind was supposed to go down. True, the next tour was a brilliant one as well, but not for the same reason. Do read on.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: we had some interesting wildlife sightings already in the harbour whilst waiting to go out. A falcon sat on one of the rocks observing us briefly and a common seal popped its head up! Out we went again but the humpbacks from the morning had gone off or at least we could not see them or their blows. We decided to try our luck more south and sailed first out to the west and then south down towards the most south-western point of Reykjanes Peninsula, called Reykjanestá. All along we saw fishing boats either leaving or returning to the capelin fishing grounds. Captain Gulli contacted M/S Jón Kjartansson and they said that they were seeing some whale blows around them. Then they were about four miles away. We were assessing the option of sailing out to them when some dorsal fins came towards us swimming at great speed; those were some 3-4 white-beaked dolphins. However, those guys had something far more important on their agenda than to entertain us as we only saw them 3-4 times and barely at that. We decided not to go offshore towards Jón Kjartansson but to search closer to the coast to get more shelter from the wind. This turned out to be a wise decision. As we got closer to Reykjanestá (the most south-western point) a dorsal fin larger than those of the dolphins caught our attention in some distance. This could be one thing and one thing only: Orcas! Yay! It was about 10 Orcas, quite dispersed and most likely the same group as was seen west of Grindavik yesterday, just on the other side of Reykjanestá! Perhaps as many as half of them were adult males. What an incredible finding this was. True, we didn't see any humpbacks, but when we explained to the passengers what a rare sighting Orcas are and how lucky they were, there seemed to be smile on every face. But even if they'd be a daily sighting, it would be impossible to get enough of the largest of the dolphins. Simply impossible.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Birds seen on today's tour: northern gannet, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, razorbill, common guillemot, eider duck, european shag.