Monday, 17 August 2015

Tour at 17:00

It was a pleasure just to be out at sea on this evenings tour. The skies were so dynamic and colorful it was just breathtaking. There was also no wind, a mirrored sea with some swell but nothing that would spoil the experience. A minke whale was the first to delight us, a very young individual that seemed to enjoy our company just as much as we enjoyed his/hers. After a while we tried to leave the minke whale to head further offshore but the minke whale kept popping up so close to the boat we were having to stop all the time and wait for the minke to be at a safe distance from the vessel before we sped up again. There was at least 4 attempts to leave but the minke whale was having none of it and chose that we would live when it wanted us to leave. Eventually the minke allowed us to go and on our way offshore we encountered another 3 individuals. We were trying to search for Þröstur the humpback whale and we found him/her eventually having a siesta after a long day of feeding. On the way to see Þröstur  we saw a pod of 3 -4 white beaked dolphins travelling fast but by that time we had seen the blow of the humpback so we decided to head straight there. If that wasn´t enough on the way back to the harbour a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises entertained our passengers. 4 species of cetaceans on the most picturesque tour i´ve seen in a long time. Incredible. 

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Although a weak wind was blowing and light rain was accompanying our departure, we set sail in high spirit, motivated by the previous tours. Happily, the weather quickly cleared out and we traveled on a very smooth sea and the passengers did not need to wear overalls. Once again, we sailed directly offshore, where we met a resting humpback whale. The cetacean was very relaxed, surfacing very slowly, almost not progressing forward. This allowed us to take as many looks as we wanted. Sometimes this whale was raising its fluke to take short deep dives, but it was never long before it surface again. It also performed a lazy tail slap, not very energetic but still impressive to witness. We could stay with this whale for almost an hour, it seems that this individual was not caring about us at all. Eventually it began to move again and became elusive, so we decided to leave it alone and to try to find other species. But luck was not on our side, 3 minke whales were successively spotted by the crew but they were shy, and disappeared after surfacing one or two time, leaving the passengers with no chance to see it. Even if those difficult minkes were disappointing, we still had a great time with the humpback and it was a great enjoyment to spend time on those calm waters, in splendid lights and landscapes.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We were so happy to see the sun again after a couple of bad days in Iceland. The sea conditions were just perfect and we went out from Reykjavík in a really good mood with high expectations since the morning tour was really successful. On our way out we spotted a juvenile minke whale or at least a pretty small whale. It was travelling pretty fast so it was hard to keep track of it. We spotted two minke whales in this area but decided to go further out after a couple of minutes with these animals. On our way further out we spotted a pod of 4 or 5 white-beaked dolphins. We were really looking out for the humpback whale that we encountered this morning but we are always happy to see the white-beaked dolphins.We spent some time with these beautiful animals but then headed further out to look for that humpback. It took some time to find the humpback whale but in the end we spotted a big blow that was made from Þröstur, the humpback whale that we encountered this morning. Þröstur was really calm, logging on the surface and showing it's tail occasionally. A very successful whale watching tour.

- Katrín Björnsdóttir

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: What a relief to see the sun after the bad weather we had to withstand for the past few days ! And even the wind had calmed down, so we could leave the harbour in almost perfect conditions. Having heard from whales from other boats, we went straight forward offshore without making a single stop. When we met the other boats, we could see that today the bay was full of life. There was many birds feeding here, including puffins, northern gannets, black-backed seagulls, northern fulmars, common guillemots and arctic terns. It was a nice sample of the birdlife we have here. It was no long before we met a small pod of 2-3 white-beaked dolphins. We could see them surface few times close to the boat before they vanished, leaving us with no choice except to keep moving forward. Fortunately, we were close to a massive humpback whale ! This individual was clearly feeding, sometimes aiming at flock of birds. We could stay a while with this gentle giant, and a minke whale even briefly joined us before disappearing. Having spent so much time with the humpback, we decided to take a chance to see other species. We could find two more minke whale, one of them allowing us numerous close looks for our greatest enjoyment. We also spotted another pod of white-beaked, there was about 6-7 of them and some were displaying energetic leaps. After that, the way back to Reykjavik was as quiet and as smooth as we could wish. Needless to say, it was a satisfying and successful tour ! 

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This mornings whale watching excursion could not be better, sun was out and the wind dropped to almost nothing. Some residual swell but this also reduced. The wildlife was incredible. At least 4 pods of white-beaked dolphins, spotted first by their splashes as they surfaced fast near the horizon and then different pods spotted periodically throughout the tour. All in all we must have seen at least 30 individuals and a pod of 6 came towards us and surfaced just a few meters away. As we were watching Þröstur the humpback whale (seen in the bay since the 2nd July) travel towards a very large flock of birds, arctic terns, puffins, seagulls, gannets, manx shearwaters we also caught the glimpse of a minke whale. A very productive, exciting tour this morning. A perfect time to be out on the bay. 

-Megan Whittaker

Bird species seen on today´s tours: northern fulmars, northern gannets, kittiwakes, lesser black-backed gulls, Atlantic puffins, arctic skuas, arctic terns, common guillemots and manx shearwaters.