Saturday, 4 June 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: Perfect conditions remained as well for this trip: mirror-like sea, weak wind, excellent visibility and even a little bit of sun times to times ! We went straight back to the area where we were so successful on the previous tour and found again minke whales. We spotted 4 of them in total, but the best part was that 2 of them were swimming together and displayed fantastic synchronized surfacing. We could follow those two individuals for a while before we decided to try to find other species. In our wandering we came across 3 different small pods of 2-5 white-beaked dolphins, unfortunately all of them were elusive. By persevering we could catch few glances but they were surfacing quickly and taking long dives, so the process was quite tricky. After struggling to follow those dolphins, it was time to come back home. One of the reason of the success of this tour was without any doubt the incredible weather we had and the calm out there in the bay: it allowed to have a peaceful and relaxed sighting.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We went out in good sea conditions and we hadn't traveled for long when we spotted a humpback whale. We had to wait for some time before it resurfaced and then it turned out there was actually two of them and they were traveling together. We stayed with them for some time but then decided to see what else was in the bay so we went further out. That's when we spotted a minke whale. It didn't stay under for long and was surfacing a lot so we got a good look at it and some arctic terns decided to sing for us while we were watching the minke. Then we spotted a couple of whale watching boats which had been following the two humpback whales and they were heading in our direction. We contacted them and they told us they were still following the humpbacks so we decided to stay in the area and see if the humpbacks would surface, which they did. They were staying at the surface for very short periods of time, fluked a lot and always stayed under for a long time. When they resurfaced they were always side by side which was fun to see. A very good tour of warm weather, good sea conditions, a minke whale and two humpback whales traveling together.

-Bryndís Ösp Birgisdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Conditions were fantastic for this afternoons tour with flat calm seas and minimal wind. We travelled out into Faxafloi bay with high spirits from this mornings success and were rewarded within half an hour into our journey with a minke whale spotted around 600 m away. As we drew closer there were not one but two individuals! We watched these animals surface and dive around the boat and slowly whilst we slowly meandered further out into the bay. Whilst we were travelling a big splash next to the boat indicated a harbour seal! The animal could clearly be seen diving under the water and bobbed its head in the boats wake before being interrupted by the surfacing of another minke whale at twelve o´clock! We watched this animal dive and surface multiple times before minke whales seemed to appear all around the boat, with four seen in total and guides and passengers included were not sure where to look! At least 7 minke individuals were seen in total on our trip but we received word that a humpback whale had been spotted close to the capital, Reykjavik. As we travelled towards it´s last known location we were greeted by numerous harbour porpoises around the boat. The blow from the humpback was visible as we drew closer to the harbour and as we arrived closer excitement sky-rocketed as it became apparent that there were not one but two humpback whales! We stayed with the pair for nearly thirty minutes and were rewarded with simultaneous surface and diving sequences from the two, including impressive syncronised fluke displays!! It was very exciting to see these two individuals together and so close to the entrance of the harbour!

- Darcy Philpott

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was a beautiful sunny day with only a little sea mist with a bit of wind, which made fine sailing. After sailing for only 20 minutes a minke whale was spotted, it surfaced multiple times and all around the boat, coming up just about 75 meters away, another three minke whales then surfaced in the surrounding area. One only 30 meters away and some a bit further 600-800 meters away from us. Some playful harbour porpoises then joined the show and came up multiple times. After staying with the minkes for some time, we moved on further into the bay and found a further three minke whales and after some searching, some white beaked dolphins. This pod was composed of about 4 individuals and swam happily around the boat following the abundant fish. These dolphins came wonderfully close and as the water was beautifully clear you could even see them swimming under the waters surface! It was then time to start heading back but we were rewarded with a further two minke whales and a very large pod of harbour porpoises just minutes from the harbour. 

- Tess Hudson

Bird species seen on todays tours: northern fulmar, kittiwake, black-backed gull, manx shear water, common guillemot, razorbill, atlanic puffin, northern gannet, eider duck, black guillemot & arctic tern