MONDAY, 23 MAY 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Elding: Refreshing air after a rainy day and chilly winds came at us as we sailed away from the harbour this afternoon. The birdlife was really incredible on the way out with gannets and arctic terns plunging in the water for fish as well as the famous puffins, which were popular among the passengers. Our first encounter was spotted from a passenger, it was a pod of harbour porpoises, 3-5 individuals but like so often we didn't manage to see them again so we continued to sail further out. We really wanted to see Picasso, the humpback whale that was spotted on previous tours this morning so we headed towards the area that it was last spotted. After some time of searching we managed to find the humpback whale. We were able to stay with this individual for a while as it surfaced many times. At one point it came really close to our boat and fluked one last time before it was time to head back to the harbour. On our way back two pods of harbour porpoises surfaced close to our boat which was a nice ending to a great tour. 

- Katrín Björnsdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: It was still more or less rainy throughout the afternoon tour but at least the visibility was a bit better than this morning. Shortly after leaving the harbour we came across the first of many small pods of harbour porpoises, we probably saw around 40-50 during the tour. At the same time the first porpoises showed up, we also spotted a minke whale. After slowing down and turning around we saw it a few times around us before we headed further out in the Bay. Our hope to find Picasso again, the humpback whale seen on the morning tour, was fulfilled after about another 20 min of sailing when we saw a few big blows in front of us. We could spent a good time with this humpback whale as it came up to the surface frequently and was showing its tail when going for deeper dives. Just a couple of minutes after saying good-bye to Picasso, we saw another minke whale that we spent a few minutes with before starting to head home. On our way back we not only saw more harbour porpoises but also another minke whale and a pod of ca. 4 white-beaked dolphins in the distance! 

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: It was a cloudy and windy morning when we headed out in Faxa bay. The overalls most of our passengers had put on, kept us warm and dry so that people could stay outside and enjoy the beautiful sea birds that soon greeted us a bit further out in the bay. Soon we saw a pod of harbour porpoises, about 2-3 individuals and shortly after another small pod of also 2-3 individuals. Throughout the tour many arctic terns were our constant companions and gave us the opportunity to observe their skilled flying and hunting skills really closely. After about an hour we saw the blow of our good friend Picasso, the humpback whale, who we had encountered many times during the last week. It got really close to the boat so that everybody could get a good look at it and showed us it's gorgeous fluke many times. We stayed with Picasso for a while before it was time for us to head back to the harbour. Although the visibility has been rather poor this morning, we had a great time out watching for cetaceans and meeting Picasso.

- Barbara Neubarth

Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake, black-headed gull, arctic tern, eider duck, arctic skua, common guillemot and atlantic puffin.