Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Tour at 2030

Report from Hafsúlan : it took us well over an hour to find the first Minke Whale on this tour but what a show-off individual it was! We saw it breaching (jumping into the air) from some hundred meters away and sailed directly there. Time and time again it breached and the splashes showed. Once we were there this animal was seemingly tired of jumping but it did not go hiding, far from it. We had excellent look at it for some time until we lost it. And believe it or not but the next Minke Whale we saw was also breaching! What an evening! We saw 1-2 more of their kind on this tour and then a small pod (2-5 individuals) of White Beaked Dolphins making splashes and putting on a bit of a show but we were so far out into the bay by the time we saw them that we had to say goodbye to them early on in order to get back to the harbour in time. Yet a marvellous tour and the music in the cabin made a splendid end to it!

Tour at 1700

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the older harbor of Reykjavík and stopped on our way into the bay at the Puffin island Akurey. Then we went further out and encountered the first Minke Whale after a Whale. Once there came another vessel to the same individual we decided to head on and to search another one. It did not take us long to encounter a second Minke Whale on the tour but again there came another boat so we decided to leave also the second one in peace. After that we sailed through millions of birds busy feeding krill until we found two more Minke Whales that travelled side by side through the bay. They've been great to spot and we all got a good impression of their natural behaviour. After this we sailed for a very long time through the bay and could not find any other Whales but it was a great tour before. So we came back to the harbor with another great experience in the marine life.

Tour at 1400

Report from Elding : The tour didn't start in a succesful way, the two first whales were dificult and took time to re-surface after diving, we were waiting but the whales didnt come up. we saw between 3-5 minke whales and three actually closer, some others far, and the last one much closer and was really great coming slowly to the surface that we could see its body and even the white patch on the pectoral fin coming up under the surface so many times... really exciting !!! We went back then all happy after this nice encounter and saw our cute puffin on Akurey island.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This was a long tour, that we ended to watch Puffins on Akurey before we entered the harbor again. We sailed straight out into the bay and after a while we spotted the first Minke Whale in a distance. Unfortunately we could not get closer to this individual and it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared before. After that we had to search for a long long time, sailed through many flocks of Kittiwakes that were all around in the bay. Several times we thought to see signs of Whales and headed further out in the bay until we finally came in an area with 3 to 4 Minke Whales. We got a good look at them an saw them not far away from the boat before we had to turn back towards Reykjavík as the time was running away. Long search with a hapy end as we found the Whales after a lots of sailing.

Tour at 1000

Report from Skrúður : we went out on our newest boat, Skrúður, for this trip. Normally used as our Videy Island ferry, for special trips, puffin tours or for sea angling, this former fjord ferry is also usable for whale-watching with its spacious saloon among other features. We went out into the bay and had a quiet start, it took some search until we found the first Minke Whale. Of him and his subsequent few fellows we did not see many but the action started towards the end of the tour when we saw two of them travelling together in direct line to the town of Akranes. It is always a pleasure to see two travelling together as Baleen Whales are normally solitary. We will have seen 3-5 Minke Whales on this tour but only the last two or so were seen properly. Yet a very nice tour in every way.

Tour at 900

Report from Elding : We saw all together at least 5 different Minke Whales throughout the tour, one actually crossed our path very close in front of us. But the peak of the tour was on the way back to Reykjavik, when from far in the distance a Minke Whales was breaching then lunging several times, the passengers saw it only lunging (less than 40 percent out of body out of the water), and when we arrived closer we just saw that it was two minke whales travelling together. amazing! They surfaced many times just at the same time! Something really exceptionnal since these animals are solitary, but it could be that it was a mother and a juvenile which actually looked quite big for a juvenile, but still it is possible. We also saw harbour porpoises and of course our puffin island, Akurey. Great ending !

Report from Hafsúlan: We started the tour at the Puffin colony in front of Reykjavík before we headed further out into the bay. Once we we arrived in the area were we started the searching we spotted 3+ Minke Whales in different directions and distances. We stayed there for a long time until we had to head back towards land. And just on our way back we got the best surprise of the tour as we found two more Minke Whales surfacing side by side. It was amazing to watch them and to follow them in this brilliant morning weather but we could not stay for ever even we would. So we entered the harbor again after a great start into the day.