Friday, 29 April 2016

​Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey and Hafsúlan: It was getting calmer but it still felt really windy on the way out when we sailed up into the wind. We headed right away towards the area where we had seen the humpback on the morning tour. Eldey and Hafsúlan split up to scan larger areas for whales. Both boats found minke whales after about an hour, the one that Hafsúlan saw was only seen 3 times but Eldey got a good look at their minke. Both boats also few harbour porpoises, Hafsúlan 8-10 and Eldey 2-3. Eldey then spotted another minke whale that we got a bit better look at, at one point it surfaced only 70 meters way from the boat. Eldey spotted a humpback whale towards the end of the tour so Hafsúlan soon joined and got to see the humpback few times before we had to turn back around and head back toward Reykjavík. The sailing back to land was pleasant with the sun shining and smooth sea conditions.

-Darcy and Sigurlaug 

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: This was a very windy morning and because the wind was blowing from north it felt freezing out on the bay. We kept close to land while we sailed up into the wind to stay in shelter but it still felt really rocky. When we got to Akranes we turned around and sailed with the swells so it felt a bit smoother. After almost two hours sailing we found a flock of northern gannets diving and that gave us hope to find cetaceans in that area. it got really rocky on the way to the gannets and unfortunately we didnt find any whales or dolphins there. When we traveled back we spotted a blow and when we got closer we saw this was a humpback whale! it was really elusive but while we waited for it to resurface we watched 5-6 harbour porpoises swimming around the boat. A minke whale was also spotted 500 meters away. The humpback only surfaced few times before we had to turn around and go back to land. Because only half of our passengers were able to see animals on the tour we decided to give everyone a return ticket. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on todays tours: Northern fulmars, northern gannets, kittiwakes, lesser & greater black-backed gulls, iceland gulls, eider ducks, arctic skua, razorbills, common guillemots and atlantic puffins. 

Status: RUNNING

Today we are sailing out from Reykjavik old harbor. The sea conditions are going to be rough today.