Sunday, 18 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: On this last tour of the day, the wind had only slightly picked up, but the sea was still relatively calm. Even though some rainclouds were hanging above faxa bay, the sun broke through here and there shining on parts of Snaefellsness and resulting in beautiful light conditions. It took us around half an hour until we spotted the first group of cetaceans. It was a group of three Harbour Porpoises that porpoised only 40 meters from our boat so we got a nice view on these shy but beautiful creatures of the sea. As we continued, we spotted a Minke Whale that surfaced in the distance. We got closer and waited patiently for the Minke to return to the surface. We were rewarded soon after, when the minke surfaced very close to our boat. We saw it surfacing a few times before it vanished without a trace. But then we spotted a big flock of feeding birds some kilometers away, which looked quite promising to us. Indeed, as we arrived at the feeding birds, we spotted about three differnet Minke Whales feeding in the closer surroundings. However, it was quite hard to follow them since they changed direction frequently. Eventually, we managed to find a Minke that seemed to be less busy since it was moving only slowly and surfaced in a very calm way without any sign of rush. We followed the Minke for quite a while and it was beautiful to see it surfacing close to us in the evening sun - A perfect finish for another wonderful day out on faxa bay! :-)

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: As we headed out from Reykjavík it was raining but the sea was very calm. We had been sailing for quite a while when we spotted our first Minke Whale. This was a calf and soon we spotted the mother as well but they were travelling together. We watched them for a while and then headed further out in search of something more. We were not disappointed as we saw 2 White-beaked Dolphins. We decided to follow them and soon came in to an area that was full of life. There we saw 5-6 Minke Whales all around us and 4-6 Dolphins. There was a lot of birdlife and cetaceans surfacing all around us, such a magnificent tour!

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from hafsúlan: The weather did not change on this tour, nice calm seas but quite a bit of rain. We sailed past Engey and there seemed to be more Puffins than the previous tour which was great, then it was a small pod of 4-6 Harbour Porpoises that where splashing around. A Minke Whale was the next cetacean of this tour which didn´t let us get too close but the passengers still got a good look. After some time we left the Minke to head a bit further out, we sailed for a while until we got word from another whale watching boat about 2-3 White-beaked Dolphins, we were off. Once we got there we saw the dolphins and another Minke Whale.  Lots or wildlife in just a 3 hour tour.

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The sea was very calm when we headed out this morning. We had been sailing for about an hour when we spotted a Minke Whale. We only saw it this one time. We searched a big area in the bay and we had started to head back when we spotted a Minke Whale right in front of us. It surfaced 4-5 times before going down for a deep dive and disappeared. We decided to stop in Engey on our way back to try to see some puffins. While we were there we saw some small splashes behind us which turned out to be a pod of about 4-6 Harbour Porpoises. It was a very fun surprise to see these animals right at the end of the tour.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out today from Reykjavik on calm seas and threatening skies. We started of at Engey to see if there was still same puffins around, it is getting near to the end of the season now so we didn´t expect many but we did see enough to be satisfied, but it was low tide and so we couldn´t get too close. That was ok because we saw a lot offshore too. On the way out we also saw a small pod of 3-5 Harbour Porpoises but I don´t think many of the passengers go to see those as they soon vanished after a few small splashes. It was then a Minke Whale that we got to see but it was a little elusive and didn´t let us get too close. We found two others later on in the tour and the middle one was fantastic and obviously didn´t mind our presence as it surfaces just a couple of meters in front of us. It is really an amazing feeling when a wild animals trusts you enough to come close, especially because they are hunted in the same bay as we whale watch. If you would like to help us protect these species please only eat in a whale friendly restaurant whilst here in Iceland. You can visit www.icewhale.is to get your list of these restaurants.

-Megan Whittaker

Birds seen on today's tours include: Puffins, common guillemots, northern gannets, lesser black backed gulls, eider ducks, fulmars, kittiwakes, arctic terns and great skuas, razorbills, manx shearwaters.