Monday, 06 August 2012

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: It was a little bit cloudy when we headed out tonight. After visiting Lundey we started to search for the whales right away in hope to find the whales and dolphins close to land like they had been all day. We searched in the area with no luck so we headed further out in the bay. After a while the guide spotted a minke whale surfacing about 100 meters away from the boat. We did not see it again so we kept on searching in the area for something else. We found two white-beaked dolphins but they were fast swimming away from us and we could not see them again either. It was a very difficult tour and we hope that the whales will show up soon!

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: After the visit of our puffin island Lundey we sailed only a few minutes out in the bay after we found a big group of white-beaked dolphins. They were all around the boat, some of them came very close and swam under our boat and some of them were also jumping out of the water. It was great to watch them and all in all we saw 15 to 20 individuals. After enjoying them for a long while we decided to continue our journey and after a while searching in the bay we found minke whales. There were 4 minke whales in one area and also northern gannets were feeding there. It was great to watch both the whales and also the gannets.

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: In this tour we decided to go and search for the dolphins again. We searched in a quite large area but did not see them again. However we managed to find lot of harbour porpoises and two minke whales in the same area! The minkies were being little bit elusive but still we could see them very clearly for few times as the surfaced few times in a row before taking a deeper dive. On our way to Lundey the puffin island we found another minke whale very close to land. It was maybe the same minke whale from the morning tour but it was a very nice surprise to see a whale so close to land.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We started the tour at Lundey to see the puffins at home and there were thousands. We then headed offshore but it didn´t take us long maybe 20 minutes of sailing before we got told of a Minke Whale that another whale watching boat had found. Once in this area we also saw another closer to land and one Harbour Porpoise but maybe there was one or two more, very hard to say as they never surfaced at the same time. After watching the Minke Whale for a while as it surfaced many times and close to the boat we sailed further to see what else was in the bay. We found another pod of Harbour Porpoises (3-5 animals) surfacing just meters from us and quick glimpses of Minke Whales in the distance but unfortunately no dolphins on this tour. Weather + whales + calm seas = great tour.

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The weather condition today was just perfect for whale watching! Calm sea and no wind made this morning an exciting yet beautiful whale watching tour. After visiting Lundey the puffin island we did not have to go very far out to spot our first minke whale! This one was very close to land and it surfaced quite often in a row so we could all take a good look at it. After a while with this minke we headed a bit further out we spotted quite large pod of white-beaked dolphins. There were around 15-20 animals in the pod and two tiny young animals (very cute!!) with them. They were very curious about the boat, surfacing just right in front of us, going under the boat and allowing us to take a very good look at them. This was simply amazing moment with the dolphins and we sailed back to the harbour with a big smile on our faces.

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsùlan : What an amazing tour !! The sea conditions were just perfect, flat calm and the weather really enjoyable. This morning we saw a lot of Puffin around Akurey, mostly sitting on the water or flying around. We sailed only a few minutes before we spotted our first Minke Whale, really close to the puffin island. we got to see this guy really close to the boat and so relax, probably busy feeding in the area. We also saw some Harbour Porpoises within 100 meters from this Minke. Great start for the tour ! We left this Minke to find another one a few minutes later. We didn't spend a lot of time with this one because we spotted a group of crazy jumping White-beaked Dolphins further away so we headed there. On the way we saw some other porpoises. The group of Dolphin was unbelivable ! They were all breaching while traveling. That was great spectacle ! On the way back we stopped again close to the two Minke Whale we saw previously and we got to see some other porpoises. This was what we can call a really good tour !!

Birds seen on todays tours include: Puffins, fulmars, guillemots, kittiwakes, gannets, arctic skuas, Great Skuas, Eider Ducks, Cormorants, black-backed Gulls and other seagulls.