Friday, 12 September 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Elding: we sailed out from Keflavik in windy conditions but mainly sheltered by the land where we went so the sea conditions were favourable. We traveled along the peninsula to Garður and found a minke whale close to the cliffs there. It surfaced a few times and most of our passengers saw it but then it dived down and didn´t show up again. Lost to the murky depths of Faxaflói Bay. We waited around for a while in the hopes it would show up again but alas no more was seen. We sailed further towards Garður until the swell became too much and we turned and headed home to Reykjavík. We enjoyed the smooth sailing, watch the sun set and played a bit of music on the way home. We wish we could have showed our passengers more but nature is nature. Hopefully tomorrow will offer more food in the bay and thus more whales.

- Megan

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Due to unfavourable weather conditions we sailed out of Hafnarfjörður this afternoon. At first we sailed into the wind and made our way along the Reykjanes coastline towards Keflavík. At two points we had some passengers spot what looked like a whale. But unfortunately the animals disappeared both times before we got a closer look at them. The way back to Reykjavík was a lot calmer as we were now traveling with the wind and we got to enjoy a beautifully sunny afternoon in the Bay. Unfortunately though we did not manage to find any life other than birds on the way and so we, once again, offered our passengers complimentary tickets. Hopefully they will be able to come back within the next two years and get a better look at the marine life that Faxaflói has to offer when the conditions are better!

- Linda

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out into quite some wind this morning, but were surprised by quite a bit of sunshine on this trip. As we headed out we stayed close to shore to avoid the stronger winds further offshore. We got some nice looks at the lighthouse Grótta standing on its little island during high tide. After we sailed out further into the Bay we finally saw a blow from a minke whale. We saw a couple of blows from this animal but unfortunately its body was well hidden among the waves. After a while we therefore decided to head closer to shore again. On the way we got a nice look at a pod of 3-5 harbour porpoises. They were traveling quite quickly and offered us a nice view of their little bodies as they were surfing through the waves. As we did not manage to find any other whales we finally offered our passengers complimentary tickets and hope they will be able to return for another whale watch within the next two years!

- Linda

Birds seen on today´s tour include: Eider Ducks, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Fulmars, Northern Gannets, Black Guillemots and an Arctic Skua.