Friday, 11 September 2015

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This evening tour started similar to the tours earlier in the day, with a pod of white- beaked dolphins. They seemed to be interested in our boat, coming up quiet close, which gave us a very close view at these animals. while we were traveling further out into the bay we encountered two more groups of dolphins, where one was being very elusive, estimating around 13 different individuals of white- beaked dolphins. We also had some nice sightings of 2-3 different minke whales, even though some of them were hard to figure out since they were moving around quiet a bit. We also got a close and amazing view of a minke whale rolling only about 20 meters away. On the way back to the harbour we had the most amazing and magical view at Reykjavik and the sun providing the perfect light as it was going down on our travels home.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was as if the awful weather from the week before hadn´t happened the sea was so flat as we made our way on to the bay. So we really took it in and enjoyed the calm sea. After about 20 minutes we spotted our first animal which was a minke whale. It was a very elusive individual so we didn't stay long. But soon after we came across the 2nd and so on until we spotted at least 7 minkes in total. We then had about 7  white beaked dolphins come play with the boat. They leaped and played with us. Really awesome views for everyone. Eventually we had to make our way back to harbour but really great tour.

-Tommy Torrades

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: The sky was clearing as we made our way on to the bay. It was several days since I had been out due to the bad weather so my hopes were high. It only took us about 25 minutes to spot our first animals which was a pod of 7 playful white beaked dolphins. We had several pods of dolphins visit the boat as were out on the bay and we had some amazing behaviors from them. They were leaping, tail slapping and breaching right by the boat! As we made our way back to harbour we passed a very curious minke whale. Who came right up to the boat and rolled showing its beautiful white underbody to everyone. We also had  a great smell of its breathe. Which of course everyone loved. What a great way to end a tour. 

-Tommy Torrades

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: On this beautiful morning we left the harbour of Reykjavik in an optimistic mood. After the last stormy days the sea took a while to calm down, so we still had a little bit of swell. As we were traveling through the Faxaflói bay looking for cetaceans the few of the Icelandic scenery was very beautiful. It didn't take long until we spotted our first animal, which was a white- beaked dolphin. This animals was in a pod of at least 5 different individuals. During the rest of our trip we encountered two more pods as well as several minke whales. We tried to get as good a look as possible of these marine mammals without disturbing them. Unfortunately the minke whales seemed a bit elusive today. This was definitely compensated by the friendly behavior of the large amount of dolphins that we encountered in the bay, even on our way back to the harbour. Estimating around 3 minke whales and 3 pods of white- beaked dolphins with around 15 individuals.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, lesser black-backed gulls, arctic tern,, common guillemots, Atlantic puffin, razorbills, kittiwakes.