sunday, 26 June 2016

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: The weather gave us a small break, without too much wind, nor rain, increasing the difficulty of this tour. However, some dense clouds still covered the skyes and only a few rays of light managed to made their way through them. We arrived to the area in which earlier in the evening we spotted a few minke whales, but unfortunately it seems like every single one of them were gone. We tried to go a little further on, to search them, but luck wasn't by our side. Just at the end of the tour, we spotted a few harbour porpoises swimming really close to the boat, but they disappeared in a few seconds (just as this sneaky animals use to do). Time ran out and we had to go back to the old harbour, but on this tour we counted with the music and the voice of one of our dear singers. Unfortunately we didn't see whales or dolphins, so we offered our passengers some complimentary tickets, so they will have the opportunity to try again in another of our whale watching tours.

-Alberto Alejandro

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out with fog and an overcast sky. After about an hour of sailing we encountered a minke whale. The animal surfaced within 200 meters of the boat at least ten times so most passengers got a good look. Unfortunately we did not spot any more wildlife until we were almost back in Reykjavik. Here we saw a juvenile grey seal swimming very close to the boat. However, only the people that were standing on the upper deck and the bow were able to see this animal because it disappeared quickly. 

-Anouk

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We sailed out on a light rainy day and grey overcastted sky, but full of positive energy! The sea was pretty flat, making the conditions easier for us to spot the cetaceans. About 30 minutes from the harbour, we got the news from other boats that a minke whale has been spotted in the area just in front of us. The whale was diving when we arrived to the area, so we had to wait for couple of minutes before it surfaced up. We stayed with this minke whale for a while, but it was a bit elusive individual; surfacing just 1-2 times before the dive and staying underwater for long time.  During one of those longer dives, while we were waiting, we spotted few splashes nearby so we left that elusive minke and went to check from who the splashes are coming from. As we came closer, we saw they are from 4 harbour porpoises. They were fishing and not paying attention to us so we were able to come pretty close to them. They dived and for a moment we thought they might go away. The very next moment they surfaced and came right toward our boat, so close we could see their full bodies! Really nice encounter! We continued further off shore and soon we came across 2 minke whales travelling together! One was smaller and one bigger and they were surfacing parallel next to each other, so we assume they might be an adult female with a calf/ sub-adult. We stayed with them for a longer time, about 25 minutes, as seeing two minkies travelling together like that is not very usual for this solitary species. After that beautiful encounter, we had another one with other minke whale. This minke was also a bit unusual, as it was swimming pretty fast and changing directions very quick, but staying at close distance to our boat (less than 20 meters!)..Maybe he was fishing in shallower water layers...While staying with this minke, we noticed we are running out of time, so we turned the boat and started heading back to the harbour. Our tour hasn‘t finished though, as we spotted a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins just on our way back! It was a really nice encounter, as the dolphins were totally relaxed, resting at the surface and then travelling really slowly, and even though they had a calf within the group, they didn‘t mind our presence. Actually, after we turned the engine off they came even closer to us! It was lovely to watch this pod so relaxed and up-close.

-Tena Sarcevic

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: It was still rainy when we sailed out again but the sea conditions were still pretty nice. Even though it was quite foggy at first, it cleared up soon and so we were able to spot a group of about 7-8 white-beaked dolphins. We slowly approached them and soon head them right in front us. They came closer to us, played around the bow of the boat and swam underneath and all around us. I was happy to see also probably 3 juvenile animals in this group, however, one of them has a deformed back. Despite this spinal injury it seems to be okay. We have seen this individual several times over the last weeks, always accompanied by other dolphins and it seems to be in good shape! The dolphins stayed pretty close together and spent a good time around us and some of them leaping in front of us now and again. It was hard to leave them, but at some point we decided to look for something bigger and soon found a minke whale near another whale watching boat. It took a while to find it but then it was not to difficult to follow. Even though it only came up 2 times inbetween dives, it was quite easy to spot it again since its dives were rather short. We followed it for a while until we didn´t see it for an unusual long time and moved on and soon found another minke whale which may actually have been the same individual since it was not far away. Due to the good sea conditions we were able to see another minke whale a few times in the distance and also got a short glimpse at another minke whale before we headed back to Reykjavík! Inbetween the minke whale enocountere, we also got to see a single harbour porpoise that suddenly appeared in front of us.

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 10:00

Report from Eldey: We began our tour with a fine mist of rain but with perfectly calm sea conditions. We had barely left the harbour when we happend upon a pod of white-beaked dolphins. There were at least 7 individuals in this particularly group and we got to see these animals slowly surfacing and milling about the waves all around the boat. These animals seemed relaxed with our presence and we spent at least 20 minutes with these individuals. We then heard news from other boats in the vicinity that a minke whale was close-by. Barely a few moments passed when we saw the fantastic snout-first dive technique of a minke whale, which was particularly visible against the glass-like sea conditions. We got to see this animal surface and dive on numerous occasions before disappearing from our view. Deciding to continue on our pursuit of minke whales we travelled around the bay but were unfortunately unsuccessful in finding anymore of these animals. We did however happen to see lots of harbour porpoises who surfaced all around the boat throughout the journey. I hope that all of our passengers managed to get some good photos of the white-beaked dolphins as well as the sickle-shaped fin of the minke whale!   

- Darcy Philpott

Tour at 09:00

Report from Elding: We sailed out with an overcast sky and a drizzle. Due to this drizzle it was quite foggy and views were not great. Despite the weather we spotted a minke whale quite early in the trip. It came up a few times but unfortunately headed away from us quite soon. Then we spotted some Atlantic white beaked dolphins. When we came closer it turned out to be a group of at least 10 individuals.  The dolphins were amazing we could see them all around and a few times they came very close to the boat and played around the bow. Everyone was able to take good photos and videos. We moved on from the dolphins to an area were a minke whale was spotted. While trying to locate this minke whale we saw a group of 3 harbour porpoises jumping and porpoising. We spotted the minke whale and we saw the animal coming up to breathe quite a few times, at least 5 times within 100 meters from the boat. A good tour with nice minke whales and amazing dolphins.

-Anouk

Birds seen on today's tour include: atlantic puffin, kittiwake, northern fulmar, blue-fulmar, common guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill, lesser-black backed gull, greater black-backed gull, arctic skua, eider duck, arctic tern.