Friday, 5 July 2013

Tours at 17.00 and 20.30

Due to unfavorable weather conditions the tours at 17.00 and 20.30 have been cancelled. Please contact our ticket office for further information (call +354 5195000).

Tour at 14:00

It was much windier this afternoon than in the morning. We started at Akurey the puffins island. It was tempting to go to the area where the humpback whales had been found earlier but since our sister vessel Hafsúlan had gone on that quest without any success reported we decided to head into another area and try our luck there. That decision turned out to be a good one. All of a sudden were had lots of northern gannets diving down in front of the boat and then there was a huge splash in the distance. Then another one. This was bound to be something special. As we got closer it turned out that we were indeed looking at a breaching Minke Whale! How cool is that! It's very rare to see minke whales breaching although it's more common with other species such as white-beaked dolphins. We couldn't be sure if there were one or two minke whales but the crew agreed on that there were probably two. The one that we got close to breached out of the water multiple times, showing of all of its body, including its white belly and making enormous splashes. Amazing! On the way back the seas were rough but it was totally worth it after what we had gotten to see. Bumpy ride with excellent sightings!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

In the afternoon, the wind had picked up quite strong and when we left the shelter of the harbour, we were facing quite rough conditions with strong winds and rain. Is this Icelandic summer? Well, at least it was a true Icelandic experience! Even though we tried very hard, we did not find any whales on this tour and the Atlantic Puffins on the island Lundey turned out to be this tours highlight besides some other interesting seabirds such as Arctic Skuas and Northern Gannets. Still, it was an exciting adventure at sea with interesting birdlife during a half-typical Icelandic summer day. Everyone got complimentary tickets that are valid for two years - we hope to see you again soon!

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We started at the puffin island and after we had enjoyed the company of the cute puffins and other birds there, we headed out on the Faxaflói bay. Just as we had passed the lighthouse Grótta, we got a call from our sister vessel Elding II that was slightly behind us that they had spotted a large blow. We immediately turned around and soon we found a humpback whale. This humpback whale was swimming very slowly, staying at the surface for long periods at a time and once made a big splash. It's very rare to see humpback whales so close to the shore. It later turned out that we were dealing with not only one but two humpback whales. They seemed to be resting as they swam along without changing their direction or speed. We stayed with them for the whole tour as they would always come up again and it was easy to estimate where they would turn up as they were not changing their course. It's always awesome to see humpback whales and these were no exception. Great tour despite windy conditions towards the end of the tour.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 09:00

Report from hafsúlan: In the morning, the weather was quite nice with relatively calm seas and just a gentle breeze blowing. On our way out, we stopped by at Akurey one of our puffin island to have a look at the Atlantic Puffins. There were plenty ofthem around and we enjoyed watching them. Then, we headed further out faxa bay until we spotted a group of 4 to 6 White-beaked Dolphins. They seemed to be quite busy feeding since they changed direction frequently, but surfaced a fwe times very close to our boat. When we had the impression, that the dolphins wanted to be on their own, we decided to go on to surch for something else. Some of us spotted a Minke Whale in the distance, but as we came closer, the the shy animal did not show itself again. However, just a few moments later, our captain Jon spotted another group of White-beaked Dolphins, this time about 6 individuals. And again, we enjoyed watching these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat unti we heard from one of our other boats Elding II that a Humpback Whale was spotted next to the island Akurey, that we had visited earlier in the tour. As we arrived there, we were able to see two Humpback Whales being very close to the lighthouse Grotta. We enjoyed watching them surface several times and were able to get a very close look at these impressive animals. What a wonderful finish of the tour!:)

- Hendrik Schultz

Birds seen on today's tours included: Northern Gannets, Arctic Terns, Atlantic Puffins, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Black Guillemots, Arctic Skuas, Fulmars, Eider ducks