Friday, 17 May 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was stunning on the way out into the bay, It really could not be better with a flat calm sea, only the ripples from the seabirds diving disturbed it. It was incredible to watch the puffins swimming just beneath the sea surface, a very rare thing to observe and only can be observed in extremely flat waters. On our way out we got to see many Harbour Porpoises 30-40 at least surfacing here and there. Then we could see splashes in the disance, White-beaked Dolphins YAY!, a species we have not seen for a couple of days and there were a lot of them as well, 20-30 animals. Perfect photography opportunities as they leaped out of the water or having Reykjavik in the background, with the warm evening light shining on their backs. We then went looking for the Minke Whales and got glimpses of one in the distance but nothing we could really show our passengers. Time was running out and we had to make our way back to Reykjavik stopping at Puffin Island on the way. Beautiful Evening Tour, great way to end the day.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather didn´t change very much on this tour but the wildlife did, we sailed out to one of our favorite areas, after having a look at the puffins on Akurey first, of course, and found ourselves surrounded by wildlife. We turned off our engines and left them off for most the tour. There must have been at least 3 Minke Whales in the area and on one occasion it surfaced just 3 meters from the boat. It was wonderful to listen and enjoy the sounds of nature around us, the minkes whale blows, Harbour Porpoises puff (short, loud exhaled breath) and the sounds of the seabirds, especially the Arctic Terns which were particularly noisy today. wonderful tour this afternoon.

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out this morning in beautiful weather, really could not have asked for better weather. Flat calm seas, blue skies, great visibility to the point of seeing Snæfellsjökull. We sailed offshore to our main whale watching area, not taking long to come across some Harbour Porpoises, some were elusive, some were slow surfacing, some far, some close. Must have seen at least 20-30 individuals throughout the tour. It was then Minke Whales turn to have our undivided attention. One individual, maybe two that we followed and good a really nice look of, occasionally surfacing close that that everyone could get a picture. Time always goes fast when having fun so it didn´t feel long before we headed back towards the harbour but before this we stopped at puffin Island Akurey and most were there paddling and flying around. Nice morning tour.

Birds seen on today's tours: Northern Gannets, Arctic Terns, Fulmars, Eider Ducks, Atlantic Puffins, Common Guillemots, Cormorants, Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Greylag Geese, Brent Geese.

- Megan Whittaker