Friday, 15 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had picked up steadily this evening as we sailed along Faxa Bay's southern coast. We began our search by Kjalarnes and continued past Hvalfjörður and up to Akranes. On our way we saw quite a few northern Gannets and even a lone harbour porpoise. This individual was very elusive however, and we only got a glimpse of it before it swam off. Our search continued further south and back towards Reykjavik but unfortunately the whales were not clamoring for fame today. Most likely food was scarce in the bay today and the whales were further out. As a small compensation for our passengers who showed great perserverance we gave everyone a complimentary ticket valid for two years on any whale watching tour. We hope to see all of you folks again!

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The rain had increased in volume at the start of this tour but our passengers were not perturbed at all. We saw puffins and other seabirds as we ventured offshore and the occasional harbour porpoise that popped up sporadically, maybe 3-5 individual sightings throughout the tour. The sea was calm and whale spotting conditions could not get better but there seemed not to be much activity out in the bay today. Birds were not going anywhere in particular, just flying or swimming around. Hopes for seeing the larger cetaceans were getting less and less as we were nearing the end of the tour but then....white-beaked dolphins just a few hundred meters away. We slowly crept closer and they surfaced just 50 meters or so from us. You could hear the exhales of their breath and when they surfaced all at once it was beautiful. Looked to be 5 or 6 individuals in this pod. After a while we left them in peace and main our way home in the cloudy but dry evening sky.

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Conditions were very good today and the seas were quite calm as we sailed out onto Faxa bay for our afternoon tour. Visibility was unrestricted for miles and we were quite hopeful that we would spot something. Our search took quite along time this time around and we sailed almost 15 miles out to sea. We had been sailing for two and a half hours and nearing the limit of patience when we spotted a dorsal fin all of a sudden. This fin turned out to belong to a minke whale! This individual was quite calm and surfaced in very regular minke fashion: 3 times up and then a deeper dive. We got to observe this individual for a while and got a very good look at it. We could see it bring its head up first and then almost the entire body was visible. A fantastic ending to the tour and just goes to show that patience is key in a whale watching tour.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: There was no predominant wind direction and the water surface was smooth but undulated as there was a long swell. The water was in light colors of grey that there was a good contrast to spot any dark body of cetaceans. Like this it was possible to spot 3 times harbour porpoises. Each time there seemed to be only one coming several times to the water surface as he traveled along. As we have been searching for quite a while in one area it could have been that we crossed the same one more then once. Towards the end we finally found a minke whale which was travelling calmly and steadily in one direction and as he surfaced regularly we could follow it for some time and have good looks at him before we had to turn back towards the harbour.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning was quite calm and things looked good for the day to come. We sailed out in calm winds between Engey and Akurey and out onto Faxa bay proper. Sailing out we saw quite a few birds including puffins and ocean Gannets which are always a pretty sight. We had been sailing for about an hour when an observant passenger spotted a back and dorsal fin in the distance. On closer inspection we found our first cetacean of the day, a minke whale. This individual surfaced calmly and gave us an excellent look at it as it surfaced around us. It was a very nice encounter and shortly afterwards we found a second minke whale. This individual was a bit more elusive than the first but nevertheless we got some good looks at it and it was quite a nice ending to the tour. We then headed back to Reykjavik in the noon sun.

-Ívar Elí

Birds seen on today's tours include: Northern gannets, puffins, common guillemots, black guillemot, cormorant, arctic terns, fulmars, black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, kittiwakes, arctic skuas, great skua, manx shearwaters, eider ducks and red necked phalaropes.