Monday, 1 July 2013

Tour at 20:30Report from Hafsúlan: On our way out the boat was a little rocky, which made the trip there quite fun as the weather was very nice and the sun was settling down. We sailed for about a hour when we started too see big splashes further out and we could watch them as we got closer. When we were almost there the splashes turned into very big and powerful blows, it was a Humpback Whale. It seemed to be very pleased with our presence because when we got to it, the Whale slowed down and swam just next to the boat so we got a beautiful view at it and could enjoy the sound of the animals blows. We sailed together for a while until we saw the Humpback changed direction and swam away, that was when we decided we had gotten a good look at each other, both we at the whale and the whale at us. So we headed to the harbour and on our way Bjarni the musician kept us amused with his songs! We ended the tour in Akurey, one of the Puffin Islands. The trip was so nice, The curios Humpback Whale and the Icelandic sunset was a perfect mixture.-Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 17:00

Report from Elding: In the evening, the wind had picked up and the sea got a bit rough. We shortly stopped at Akurey to see the Atlantic Puffins which were sitting on the rocks of the island in large numbers. Then, we headed out further to see some whales out in faxa bay! However, the rough water surface made it quite difficult for us to spot cetaceans. Here and there passengers shortly spotted something, but we were not able to see it twice. Suddenly, a Minke Whale surfaced just about 5 meters from our boat, but disappeared as fast as it had shown up. But there it was, a big blow in the distance...and again! this time also a black back was visible in about one kilometer distance. Was it...yes it was! a Humback Whale! As we came closer there was no doubt about it anymore. The whale seemed to rest, lingering motionless head down and fluke up enabling us to thoroughly observe this impressive animal. It even surprised us with strong fluke flaps on the water surface, maybe a sign that it wanted to be on its own? We could not tell as noone on board was speaking the humpback language...However, we had spent plenty of time with the humpback so we decided to leave it on its own getting its well deserved sleep - Hope to see you tomorrow my dear fellow!

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 14:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The clouds from this morning had cleared up as we stopped at Akurey the puffins island. After having observed the cute puffins there we headed to the area where the humpback whale from this morning had been seen. And indeed, there it was, still logging, calmly surfacing and breathing heavily. This humpback was very small, only about 6 meters long so it must have been a calf. It was staying very long at the surface. At one point it stayed for approximately 5 minutes directly in front of us, about 5 meters away so every one could get a look and hear it. We decided to leave the humpback to search for other species but it would not let us go as every time we had turned out boat around it would surface again showing off its black shiny back. When we finally headed further we found three pods of white-beaked dolphins many of which approached the boat and some even dived under it. All in all a great tour in sunny weather with good visibility and beautiful sightings!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: This afternoon, we started sailing under relatively calm conditions and even though the sky was a bit overkast, the sun was shining through here and there. On our way out, we stopped at the puffin island Akurey, where we enjoyed watching the Atlantic Puffins. The tide was very high and we were able to get very close to the island. When we continued our journey, it did only take us about 20 minutes until we spotted two Minke Whales in about 200 meter distance. We git closer and had a very nice view on these baleen whales. One was surface feeding several times and surprised us with splashes. As we traveled further, we saw splashes in about a kilometer distance. When we got closer, we found a group of White-beaked Dolphins traveling fast and jumping in between. They were heading towards a big flock of feeding seabirds including the large Northern Gannets that were diving within the flock. We thoroughlz enjoyed watching the dolphins feeding and a couple of Minke Whales that surfaced in between once. The cherry on the cake was a resting Humpback Whale that we spotted when we were already on our way back to Reykjavik. We stayed as long as we could and were at least able to see it surfacing a couple of times before we had to go back to Reykjaviks harbour.

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We started the tour by heading to the puffins island Akurey. There were many birds all around. Then we went out on the bay and had to sail for a bit until we reached an area where a humpback whale had been seen. When we arrived it was still there, logging at the surface, blowing heavily out of its blowhole and apparently resting or sleeping. It came very close to our boat for everyone to see it and hear it and even smell it! We spent about an hour with this humpback whale and then decided to head further. On the way we found shy harbour porpoises and shortly after white-beaked dolphins that were far from shy. They approached us, breaching out of the water and there must have been at least 15 of them. Eventually we had to head back to the harbour. They bay was full of feeding birds this morning and on the way back we spotted a feeding minke whale in on of these flocks of birds. Fantastic sightings today, a total of four species and different types of behaviour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 9:00

Report from Elding: It was cloudy today but the sea was very calm. We started our tour by looking at the puffins in Akurey. Then we headed out and pretty soon we spotted a Minke Whale. And then another one but they were both heading for a deep dive. We stayed in the area an a few more Minke Whales surfaced, including 2 which seemed to be travelling together. We probably saw around 5-6 individuals all together. We then decided to head out and look for something else and we got what we wanted, a pod of 10-15 White-beaked Dolphins. They surfaced very close to the boat. When we headed back it had started raining but an amazing tour nevertheless.

-Aldís Erna PálsdóttirBirds seen on today's tours: Arctic Terns, Arctic Skuas, Eider Ducks, Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Northern Gannets, Black Guillemots, Common GuillemotsThe photos on the diary are from the 10:00 tour, diary from the tour will come in later today!