Thursday, 11 July 2013

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: The midnight tour started in a rather cloudy sky but that didn't impress the cozy atmosphere on board. At Akurey, the Puffin Island was a lot going on, the Puffins were home for dinner. After a few minutes we left the cute little birds to find some whales. Even though we searched a very long time and scanned a large area we only saw a Minke Whale once or twice. We kept on searching while on the way back to Reykjavík our talented musician Bjarni sang for our passengers. Suddenly the captain spotted a Minke right next to the boat but the only thing we got from this Minke was it's terrible breath. Once again the name "stinky minke" is well deserved. We weren't lucky to spot it again so we gave our passengers complimentary tickets valid for 2 years so they can come on another free tour with us.

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 17:00Report from Hafsúlan: The clouds were gray but the weather pretty still while we headed out. We went to the area we have been seeing a lot of animals today but the sightings had totally changed. There was little bird life and no sightings of whales accept from 2-3 Minke Whales which the crew spotted very far away but then they were gone so the passengers didn't get to see them. When our time was almost up we saw splashes further away and we headed towards them, there we found a breaching White-beaked dolphin and other dolphins surfacing around him. it was a pod of 4-6 animals and they seemed to be very playful and came up just next to the boat and swam under it so we got an amazing look at them both under the surface and when they came up. Unfortunately our time was up and we sailed back to the harbour with a stop in Akurey, one of the puffin islands. All in all it was a good tour with the white-beaked dolphins.- Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The fog had lifted so there was partly blue sky and the sun came finally through when we headed out into Faxa Bay. It took us about 30 minutes ride until we spotted the first Minke Whale but this animal was rather elusive so we decided to search for some other animal. After a while we met several pods of White Beaked Dolphins, it was amazing there were so many of them all around us at least 30 animals. We stayed with them a long time and they also jumped a few times. later on we saw some more Minke Whales in total 4 to 5 and we got to enjoy the sun and the Puffin Island on the way back was just the perfect end of this tour.

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 13:00:

Report from Hafsúlan: The sun had started shining when we headed out for the 13:00 tour. We headed straight to where we had seen the Minke Whales that morning. As soon as we got to the area we saw a pod of about 15 White-beaked Dolphins. We watched them for a little while when all of a sudden Minke Whales started surfacing all around us. There were probably 5-6 animals so we just turned off the engines and enjoyed the show. They were lunge feeding, surfacing right next to us and there was one which was very big, probably 10-11 m long. When we started our engines again to head back the dolphins appeared again and one of them was jumping over and over. On our way back we stopped in Akurey to take a look at the beautiful puffins. Such a spectacular tour.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was a misty morning in Reykjavík but the sea was very calm which is always good for whale watching. We started our tour at Akurey, the Puffin Island where we had a nice encounter with "the penguins of the north" as they are also called. We sailed about half an hour before we spotted our first Minke Whale. It turned out that there were more Minke Whales around us, in total at least 4. Some of them came quite close to the boat. The fish finder under the boat showed, that there was a lot of fish in the area so the whales were most likely feeding. It was a very enjoyable tour in excellent sea condiotions.

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was cloudy but otherwise the weather was very nice this morning. We started our tour in Akurey where we saw many atlantic puffins. Then we headed out. After half an hour or so we spotted the first Minke Whale. It surfaced a few times around us before disappearing. We continued out in the bay and soon spotted three other Minke Whales which surfaced very close to each other. As we got closer our fish finder showed us that there was a lot of food in the area. These three Minkes were likely feeding and surfaced many times all around us. A very good morning tour.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

 

Birds seen on todays tours include; Northern Gannets, Arctic Terns, Kittiwakes, Atlantic Puffins, Great Black-backed Gull, Fulmars, Common Guillemots, Black Guillemot, Eider Ducks and Great Skua.