Saturday, 14 May 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: We were greeted with calm seas this late afternoon and even lucky enough to catch some dazzling rays of sunshine through the clouds. Our tour began with sightings of harbour porpoises and a great amount of bird activity with some fantastic sights of diving northern gannets. We then saw the blow of a minke whale which we watched feeding and diving on numerous occasions before being interrupted by not one but two humpback whales feeding in the bay!! We stayed with these two animals for over half an hour and witnessed them diving and surfacing all around the boat - they definitely kept us on our toes! This tour was particularly great for seabirds - with lots of puffins seen as well as the mischevious arctic skuas opportunistically stealing food from the arctic terns!  

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Although slightly overcast there was very little movement on the boat today and the journey remained calm throughout. Our first sighting was in the form of a couple of harbour porpoises playing relatively close to the boat and popping up all around us. We were then greeted by 5 white beaked dolphins including a small calf who played around the boat for over 10 minutes, bow riding and porpoising out of the water. There were a large group of birds which were a sure sign of lots of food in the area and sure enough a minke whale was also nearby, who surfaced and dived around the boat. We were then distracted by a large blow in the distance which turned out to be a humpback whale. We had a pretty spectacular encounter whereby the humpback surfaced about 50m next to the boat. We stayed with the humpback whale for over 30 minutes, who was feeding right next to the boat and provided customers with lots of photo opportunities. Upon our return to Reykjavik we were greeted by another minke whale feeding as well as a group of porpoises, which proved to be a pretty spectacular tour. 

- Darcy Philpott 

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out on a misty day, a fine rain that did not feel like much at all but soon got you soaked. It brightened up once we got further out in the bay. After 40 minutes of sailing, after seeing many birds but no cetaceans we soon found ourselves surrounded. First is was a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises, then suddenly a blow from a humpback whale about a kilometer away and then on the way to the humpback a minke whale quickily surfaced on our left 400 meters away. Go Go Go! We decided to concentrate on the humpback and soon found it was 2 individuals. We enjoyed watching them for as good while. They even surfaced just meters from the ship on the odd occasion when the fish were beneath us. The arctic terns were also engourging on the plentiful food in the bay today, many flocks of they small white silver birds. Many more harbour porpoises were seen on the way home too. At least another 10 individuals. 

- Megan Whittaker

Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, great black-backed gull, kittiwake, Iceland gull, eider duck, arctic tern, Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, razorbills, manx shearwaters, cormorant, and arctic skua.

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out today from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik. It is partially clouded and a little Wind from the west, so there could be some movement on the boat out on the bay.