Friday, 9 July 2010

Tour at 20:30

We started by visiting Puffin Island (Akurey) and all the Puffins were home, they were everywhere. We then went out into Faxaflói we went here there and everywhere in search of the elusive Minke Whale. We heard rumors they were in the bay. Obviously they were all on stealth mode for this tour as none could be seen. :( Alas once again no whales but the sea was flat calm, visability was great, the midnight sun was absolutely stunning. There were quite a few birds around which would indicate a lot of fish but i guess not the type of fish the whales were after. No whales but at least a really visually beautiful tour.

 

Tour at 17:00

The weather had changed a lot, the wind had picked up, and later in the trip it started to rain. We started at the puffin island Lundey. Some Puffins were around but not many. And the Whales were a little bit difficult to find. Suddenly on Minke Whale surfaced 100 m away from us. We followed the whale fore some time. It was fast swimming and we could see the blow from the whale quite well and the long black back few times. But this was the only whale we spotted on this tour, even though there were lots of feeding birds in the area.

 

Tour at 14:00

The wind calmed down a lot and the sun was still warm and visibility was still great but it did start to become more overcast as the tour went on. We were going to start the tour with Akurey (Puffin Island) but we got word from our sister vessel that they found some Minke Whales so of we went. There was a flock of feeding birds that we sailed towards and the birds were getting more and more concentrated and then they all flew up at once so i told the passengers keep watching at 12 something is about to happen. Then the Minke rolled and caused a big splash seeing the tail as it disappeared and then resurfaced behind the birds. There must of been at least 3-4 Minkes in the area. There were many flocks of Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Gulls and Arctic Terns in the area so it must of been very productive waters. We ended the tour by visiting Lundey and saw some Puffins flying around. They must of been in their borrows or out to sea today. Great tour.

 

Tour at 13:00

The wind had dropped down and the sea was quite calm again, and the sun was shining. Fantastic weather. The puffin island was our first stop, then the Faxaflói bay. There were a lot of birds feeding in a small area and very close to land, close to Kjalarnes. In this area we spotted 4-5 Minke Whales, some of them only surfacing others lunge feeding, that is when the whale lunges its body towards the surface with the mouth open, catching the fish. So very nice tour.

 

Tour at 10:00

Today the weather was a little windy (about 8 m/s) so quite a few white caps but the sun was on high energy and the visibility was very good. Unfortunately we didn´t see any whales on this tour but it was an excellent bird watching tour, seeing many Puffins (Puffin Island), Kittiwakes, Arctic Terns, Arctic Skuas, Gannets, Fulmars, Gulls, Eider Ducks and one Black Guillemot. So as far as being out to sea in great weather and seeing loads of seabirds is concerned, it was a great tour. But complementary tickets were given out due to lack of whales.

 

Tour at 09:00

We sailed out in a windy but sunny weather and shortly after visiting the Puffin Island, we spotted 2 Minke Whales. They were rather shy and difficult to approach so we sailed further out and saw some diving Gannets which are always enjoyable to watch. On the way back to the harbour, a passenger shouted 12:00 o´clock! She had just spotted the third Minke Whale on this tour. It didn´t stay for long but nevertheless, we all got a quite good view on this one.