Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: This evening was excellent in terms of whale watching conditions. Light winds and cloudy skies with excellent visibility all around us. We began by visiting the puffins at Akurey and after a short stop with the cute puffins we headed further out to begin our search for the whales. After sailing for around half an hour we spotted our first cetacean of the tour, a Minke whale!. We saw this individual a few times but he seemed rather elusive so we didn't press the encounter and moved on to find other cetaceans. Soon after that encounter we spotted another minke and this one was very pleasant and friendly and we got some very good looks at him. All in all a good trip and then we enjoyed the fantastic music and humor of Bjarni the magician on the way back.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 17:00

Report from Elding: The sea condition couldn´t have been any better today, it was still very calm see and sunshine. We headed straight out into the bay to see if we could meet the whales from this afternoon again. we were lucky, they were still there and we had an amazing time with "Humpy" again and at least 4 other Minke Whales. We stayed with them all the time throughout the tour and these whales were so friendly and relaxed they just circeled us all the time and surfaced just 2 meters away from the boat. A truely unforgetable experience.

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 14:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This afternoon conditions had improved somewhat and we now had partially cloudy skies and even the sun shone down on us as we sailed out from Reykjavik harbour. We began by visiting the small and cute puffins and Akurey, always a good start to a tour. Then we headed further out into the bay amidst reports of minkes from the other whale watching vessels in the area. After sailing for a good thirty minutes a black back was spotted and our first whale of the tour sighted, a Minke whale. Almost immidieately this whale surfaced close to the boat and we shut off our engines to better enjoy the encounter. Much to our delight we then simply stayed there for most of the tour. This was an extraordinarily friendly individual and he surfaced many times close to the boat, swimming in an approximate circle around us and most liklely feeding. When we were almost out of time we decided to head a bit further on and see if we spotted anything. Soon after that a cluster of dorsal fins were sighted behind a flock of birds and we had found the White-beaked dolphins! We saw them a few times but they didn't seem to want to interact with us so we decided to leave and head back to shore in the fantastic afternoon sun. Then as we were heading back another minke surfaced right next to us, giving us a fantastic ending to a great tour.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: The weather was just wonderful when we sailed out this afternoon. We visited first the Puffins on Akurey but unfortunately not a lot of them were home. It took us 30 minutes sailing until we spotted a large pod of White Beaked Dolphins, 25-30 animals, that were jumping very high out of the water and also tail slapping, most likely a feeding behavoiur to scare and stun the fish. We were so happy when some Minke Whales started surfacing around us, they were basically everywhere, at least 8 individuals. We also met "Humpy" a familiar Minke Whale that has visited us for the last 3 years. It was one of the top days this summer!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Much like the earlier morning tour we headed out in weather well suited to whale watching. We began by visiting the charismatic puffins of Akurey on our way further out into Faxa bay. After radioing our sister vessel Elding, we headed straight towards them as they reported many minkes about. When we arrived we were not dissapointed and just before we reached Elding we saw our first cetacean of the tour, a Minke whale! During our stay in the area we saw many minke whales and some were very friendly and interactive, surfacing close to the boat and giving us a very good look at them. It was an extremely good encounter and at one point we even managed to shut down the engines and just enjoy the whales and the calm conditions. All in all a fantastic tour with some excellent whales and the beautiful scenery of Faxa bay.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 9:00:

Report from Elding: It was cloudy this morning but other than that the weather was perfect and the sea very calm. We had sailed for about half an hour when we spotted our first Minke Whale. This turned out to be one of many in the area so soon we just turned of our engines and watched these majestic animals surface around us. We probably saw around 8 Minke Whales and then when we were heading back we saw a pod of 4-5 White-beaked Dolphins. They seemed to be sleeping so we shortly headed to Akurey where we encountered the beautiful puffins. An amazing tour on a beautiful day

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Birds seen on todays tour include: Fulmer, Razorbill, Guillemot, Puffin, Kittiwake, Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls, Great Skua, Shag, Arctic Tern.