Friday, 28 June 2013

Tour at 20:30:

Report from Hafsúlan: What a tour. We headed out in very good conditions this evening with clam winds and the evening sun shining in the west. We began by visiting the puffins in Lundey and then started our search for the whales. We sailed further out into Faxaflói in what can only be described as near perfect conditions, the evening sun calm winds and mirror seas albeit a slight wave from the west. Pretty soon we saw some splashes from a flock of birds close to Akurey. We headed there, curious if there was a whale so close to land. Closer and closer we got until our suspicions were confirmed and we spotted our first cetacean of the tour a Humback Whale! We were immensly excited as this is always a fun whale to spot. It came up again and again in a huge flock of seabirds calmy feeding and rolling on the surface. This particular whale was very social coming up close to the boat and did not seem to mind our presence at all. We even spotted another humback close to the boat and even a Minke Whale to boot. All in all a fantastic tour, the midnight sun, humback and minke whales and calm conditions made for one of the best tours so far and a nice surprise considering todays rough start.

Tour at 14:00 and 17:00:

Due to rough seas in the Faxaflói bay the tours at 14:00 and 17:00 were cancelled today.

Tour at 13:00:

Report from Hafsúlan. We headed out and the weather had gotten a lot worse. We sailed for about half an hour before we decided to turn around because the sea was too rough. We never expected these sea conditions judging by the forecast and the weather earlier that morning. We stopped in Lundey to look at the puffins and then gave all our passengers a complimentary ticket which is good for another tour with us for the next two years and gives a 15% discount in our giftshop. This just goes to show how incredibly fast the Icelandic weather can change.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 10:00:

Report from Elding: We sailed out today in similar conditions to the 9'o clock tour and started by visiting the puffins at Akurey. We then sailed further out and started our search for the whale. Things looked promising out in the bay with lots of birds flying around for example the Great Skua and the Northren Gannets. Unfortunately though despite our best efforts and one or two partial shightings by passengers we didn't find any whales out in the bay today. This might be due to not enough food being present or that the whales were simply not in a social mood. At the end of the tour we gave all of our passengers complimentary tickets which are good for another tour with within the next two years and hope to see them again.

Tour at 9:00:

Report from Hafsúlan. We headed out and it was rather windy. We started by going to Akurey where we saw a lot of puffins. We had been sailing for about 40 minutes when our passengers spotted something. We stopped the boat and waited for it to resurface. All of a sudden a White-beaked Dolphin jumps right next to the boat. These were probably 3-4 animals and they jumped a couple of times before disappearing. We kept on sailing and saw a lot of seabirds, some in big flocks. Then we see a Minke Whale right in front of us. It only surfaced twice before going for a deep dive. We caught a glimpse of two more Minke Whales but unfortunetaly we didn't see them to close. A very good tour in spite of the rough seas.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Birds seen on todays tours include: Gannet, Great Skua, Fulmer, Kittiwake, Lesser Black-blacked Gull, Greater Black-blacked Gull, Arctic Tern, Puffin.