Monday, 11 July 2011

Tour at 20:30

We sailed straight out to Faxaflói bay, it didn't take us long until we spotted a large flock of feeding birds, lots of gannets diving as well. And in that group we spotted a blow, when we came closer we spotted 2 minke whales surfacing next to the birds, and after a while we had many minke whales around us, at least 6 minke whales, some of the came so close to the boat so amazing only maybe 2 meters away, some passengers felt that they could almost pet them. Just beautiful, we stayed with them for a while and the diving gannets, before we headed on. We spotted 2 other minke whales in another area. On the way home we visited the puffins and saw hundreds of them flying above and around the island Akurey and had the sunset in the background. Amazing tour tonight:)

 

Tour at 17:00

Again we started the tour by visiting the puffin island Akurey, and there were so many puffins to see. Than we headed out to Faxaflói bay, soon we saw our first minke whale and after a while we were looking at least 10 minke whales, two of them came very close to the boat, only 5 meters away so amazing. We also spotted harbour porpoises on the tour, the best once that we have seen for a while, they were surfacing around us very clear under the surface and breaching out, just spectacular! Lots of diving gannets and very active birdlife on the tour. Yet another great tour. Tour at 14:00: We started the tour by visiting the puffin Island Akurey. Many puffins were in the Island this time so everyone got a good look at those little clowns. Later we managed to spot probably 7 individuals of the Minke Whale. Some of them were a bit difficult to follow but 2 of them came very close to the boat, allowing us to get a good look at their beautiful side flippers. Another good tour!

 

Tour at 13:00

We headed first out to Akurey this afternoon and spotted a lot of puffins around the island. The weather was still really beautiful and the sea was calm. Even before we reached our normal whale watching area we spotted some Harbour Porpoises. Later on also some Minke Whales surfacing quite far away but the captain already spotted a group of jumping and leaping dolphins, so we went there first. The White Beaked Dolphins surfaced quite often really close to the boat just 5 meters away from us and we could also see them swimming under the surface. After that we spotted again a Minke Whale also surfacing close to the boat. The whale was surface feeding and it was amazing to see how wide the whale opened its snout to feed. We spotted all together a lot of Minke Whales and the last one we saw on our way back to the harbour came really close too, just 20 meters away. Amazing tour in sunshine weather!

 

Tour at 10:00

We sailed straight out to Faxaflói bay and spotted a group of Harbour Porpoises. Throughout the tour we always met the harbour porpoises again. Some of them came really close to the boat and stayed for a while. We also spotted few individuals of Minke whales on the trip. Some stayed far away but few of them came close to the boat which was really nice. The thirds species on the tour was the White Beaked Dolphins. They swam around us so we could easily see their beautiful body. Three species of four spotted on this tour which is a big success. Many birds were out on the sea especially seagulls fighting for fish. On the way back to the harbour we took a stop at the puffin island Akurey and managed to move the boat quite close to the Island. Great tour!

 

Tour at 09:00

With the sea like a mirror we sailed out to Faxaflói this morning. It was not difficult to find the whales and birds, maybe a little bit difficult to decide where to look because the minke whales were surfacing every where around us. Some very close, others further away. We also spotted a nice pod of white-beaked dolphins and gorgeous harbour porpoises which we could follow with our eyes underneath the surface all around the boat. Very successful tour;) Birds seen on tour. Manx shearwater, puffin, guillemot, fulmars, kittiwakes, arctic terns, razorbills and gannets.