Saturday, 25 July 2015

Tour at 20:30

Report from Hafsúlan: It had started to rain but we still had a beautiful view over the surroundings of Faxaflói bay. We went out with high hopes as previous tours had been really good. We started the tour with a pretty good sightings with the minke whale. This individual showed itself couple of times but then went for a deep dive so we decided to move on. After few minutes a passenger spotted white-beaked dolphins pretty far away so we headed that way. It turned out to be a pretty big pod of dolphins that were travelling in our direction. After some time with the dolphins we headed further out into the bay. We had been hoping for a humpback whale and we knew of one individual very far out but we didn't hesitate, we really wanted to see that humpback whale. After maybe about an hour we spotted the humpback, this was what we had been building up for and everybody got really excited. We stayed with this beautiful animal for maybe 40 minutes. It was really calm and didn't seem to be bothered by the boat. We even got to see it's pectoral fin as it was slapping it on the surface of the water. After some time the rainbow came out and framed the humpback in really neatly for us. The tour just got better and better when another pod of white-beaked dolphins joined in and we had some really nice sightings of the dolphins and the humpback together. Even thought we had some rain, everybody had forgotten about that and we watched the beautiful pink sky with the sunset on our way back. Really a wonderful tour tonight.

- Katrín Björnsdóttir

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We got really lucky on this boat today, so we decided to push again our luck and headed straight forward offshore. Our way got cut by a pod of white-beaked dolphins. There was about 5 of those animals traveling together. We could follow them a little bit and got good looks at them. Determined to see more species, we began to travel again, and encountered 2 minke whales. They were quite shy so we did not forced our presence on them and kept on our way. We sailed for a very long time, and met two more pods of dolphins, but we did not stop, hoping for finding more diversity. And our prayers got granted. An additional pod of white-beaked dolphins brought our attention on a large black back: they were traveling with a humpback whale ! When we came close to this individual, it was resting, almost not moving at all. It is highly probable that it was even sleeping. The whale was not taking any more dives, nor it was moving forward. It was just staying on the surface, occasionally exhaling air and swinging its fluke. We could stay and watch as much as we wanted, a very rare privilege in whale watching. After a while this humpback began to move again and, because time was running out, we went back to Reykjavik harbour, subjugated by a splendid evening landscape.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 14:00

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we decided to go out even further, since the sea conditions were so perfect. While we were traveling west, we spotted several minke whales on our way, we also quickly stopped for one animal close by, to get a better look at it. Further out in the bay we spotted a humpback whale, which has been seen in the bay for over a week now. We enjoyed looking at it for a while, until we spotted another whale several kilometers in the distance. We were curious and decided to find out what kind of whale it was. Luck was on our side as we got closer and realized it was another humpback whale. During the rest of the tour and on our way back we additionally encountered 3 harbour porpoises and 2 more minke whales.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Rare are the tours like this one, sadly enough. We got everything. We got a perfect weather and sea conditions, and we got a perfect score of sightings. We departed from Reykjavik with almost no wind and with very sweet temperatures. The blue sky was visible, and sun was warming us up outside. Motivated by our previous trip, we set sail with confidence. Quickly, we spotted 2 minke whales traveling together. It was very strange because both of them were too big to be one calf traveling with its mother, and normally minke whales are solitary species. Yet they were surfacing and swimming oddly close to each others. It was a nice and unusual sight ! We stayed with them few minutes then kept on heading further away. We finally met a pod of 6 - 8 white-beaked dolphins. Sometime they were surfacing all together in line, giving us the opportunity to estimate their number. After a long quality time with them, because we were far enough in the bay, we decided to head back to have time to check carefully for more species. We eventually spotted 3 harbour porpoises, at different times. The two firsts were very shy so we could not see them very well, but the last one allowed us enough looks to feel satisfied. And finally, we joined other boat and spotted a humpback whale, making this trip a four species tour. This whale was feeding, and surfaced several times close to us. we could get spectacular looks at the head, the nodules, and at its fluke. It was a perfect way to end this trip. We got to see every cetaceans this bay can offer, it felt pleasantly fulfilling ! We could not ask for anything more, so we headed back home. Another minke whale and also a pod of white-beaked dolphin surprised us by appearing just after leaving the humpback whales, almost as if they were jealous of all the attention the last one got. They did not hanged around for long, but it was a nice bonus.  May all the future tours be like this one !

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 10:00

Report from Eldey: On this morning we went out from the harbour in search of cetaceans. This morning turned out to be rather incredible, due to the amazing weather, there was no wind, which resulted in calm and flat sea conditions. We didn't travel for long until we saw our first marine mammals, a minke whale. We moved on rather fast because we heard that there was a humpback whale close by, and indeed we found this very calm individual. We stayed with this animal for quiet a long time until we decided to go look for another minke whale closer than before. Just as we turned the boat, there it was, a minke whale, only 600 meters away. We traveled closer to the animal, stayed with it for a while until we had to head back to Reykjavik.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Things were looking good when we left the harbour for the first tour of this day. The weather was excellent, the sea almost totally flat, and we could feel that the passengers were looking for fun. Recently having a lot of success with the humpback whales, we took the decision to go directly far away to try to find it. On our way we spotted 3 different minke whales. We stopped only for one that was surfacing quickly enough to let us takes good looks. Yet we did not spent a lot of time with this individual. Shortly after crossing the city of Akranes, we finally found our humpback whale ! This individual was traveling slowly, and allowed us to get very close. We could clearly see its white pectoral fins underwater, and we enjoyed the sound of its powerful blow. We could stay deliciously long with this individual. When the time to go back home came, we had to resolve to follow the sad obligation to head toward Reykjavik. But as a nice surprise, one of the minke whales we showed at the beginning came not very far away form the harbour. We could take the time to watch it more carefully, and it rewarded our patience by surfacing next to the boat. Definitely one of the most pleasant ways to start a day.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, arctic terns, kittiwakes, arctic skua, puffins, common guillemots, black-backed gulls.