Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Status : RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. We predict a mild wind from the east and a calm sea.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: The winter afternoon glow as the sun rose was absolutely breath-taking. We sailed towards the north-west in the direction of Snæfellsjökull, which could also be seen today, far, far in the distance. For the first hour and 30 minutues the bay looks bare, no sign of life other than the odd bird flying past. It was also bitterly cold on the way out with the freezing winter winds on our faces. Everyone either dressed well or made use of the free overalls provided on board to stay out as long as they possible could. We searched a very large area, eventually we found an area of birdlife, big clusters of seagulls feeding. Our optimism rose and passengers ventured outside again in the hope of finding some cetaceans. We searched the area thoroughly but no other marine life was found. We were on our way home when a big blow was seen in the distance, about 4km towards the Reykjanes peninsula. A humpback whale, a wonderful whale that was not put off by our presence and just happily fed and we watched in aw. Many time the whale surfaced very close to the boat, 10-20 meters away. It was amazing and put a big smile on all the passengers faces. A beautiful whale on a beautiful tour. 

- Megan Whittaker

Birds seen on today´s tour include; Great cormorant, kittiwakes, fulmars, iceland gulls, black-backed gulls, eider ducks and a species of diver that flew quickily past.