Monday, 13 June 2015

Tour at 17:00

Report from Elding: What an afternoon! The sun was still shining and the conditions for whale watching were very very good. We started the tour with very interactive and playful white-beaked dolphins.  They were bowriding, swimming under the boat, jumping over and over and showing very playful behaviour. It was wonderful to have them all around us. Later on we spotted few minke whales, around 4-5 individuals in total. They were being a bit elusive this afternoon but we could still take a good look at some of them. There were harbour porpoises all around as well. All in all a wonderful afternoon on the bay.

- Sveinn Guðmundsson

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The sea conditions were still beautiful this afternoon and the sun was shining through the clouds more and more during the tour. First after about 50 minutes we came across two white-beaked dolphins. We spent a few minutes with them but then headed further out to look for something else. S we kept going and about 10 minutes later we found a humpback whale.It wasn't very active but slowly traveling and maybe resting but coming up to the surface frequently. After a while we just wanted to see it once more and than suddenly it came up just about 30 m away from us! During that time, we had stopped the engine, so it was the humpback whale coming close to us! After spending a few more minutes with it, we wanted to go further out but saw more white-beaked dolphins just a few hundred meters away and decided to go over to them. It was a group of 4 individuals and they were surfacing all around us and showing us their white beaks - nice end of the tour before we had to travel back home. 

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we were sailing out under great conditions and eager to see some wildlife. First we were greeted by a small pod of harbour porpoises, about 3-5 individuals. Then we soon saw even two minke whales surfacing realtively close together. One time they even came up almost in synchronization which was great to observe and gave our passangers the chance to take some nice pictures, although the minkes were a bit further away. The weather got even better with more and more blue sky and sunshine as the tour progressed further and we decided to check out a pod of white-beaked dolphins which had been spotted by another whale watching boat. We counted at least 5 individuals and could get good glimpses of their beautiful white stripes. They seemed to be travelling and after a while we let them be to head further out into the bay and were rewarded with another minke whale which came quite close to the boat. We could even see it's snout and watched it surfacing a couple of times before it was time for us to slowly head back. We always say that even though we turn around to sail back, there is always something to look out for and it couldn't have been more true this time. On our way back we saw one humpback whale surfacing and more white-beaked dolphins (6+) which were even leaping out of the water a bit further away. A very good tour with many sightings including all four species we commonly see in Faxa bay during the summer time. Fantastic!

- Barbara Neubarth

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The conditions were fantastic for this mornings tour with flat calm seas and little wind. Our tour began with some great glimpses of harbour porpoises who have really impressed the crew over the past few days - with their rare leaps from the water flashing their white bellies and shrugging off their comon "elusive" behaviour. We headed out only a few minutes longer when we were greeted with the blow from a humpback whale. This animal certainly kept us entertained - surfacing towards the front of the boat, going for a deeper dive then re-appearing towards the back of the boat. We watched this animal dive and surface on numerous ocassions before it then really put on a show for us! The animal lay on its back and used it´s long white pectoral fins to intermitently beat the water - one fin then the next with the thumps on the water echoing all around the boat. Certainly an impressive sight! It playfully continued this behaviour for around 10 minutes before diving again. It then breached!!! Raising over half of its body out of the water and creating an almighty splash! It then resumed its pectoral slapping and came within 10 m of the boat allowing lots of our passengers to get some great selfies with this very rare and spectacular sight. Having spent over 45 minutes with this animal we returned to Reykjavik with a glimpse of a minke whale on the horizon. This animal remained fairly elusive but still allowed us to catch it´s arched back on the waters surface before going on a deeper dive. Continuing on our return to the harbour again more harbour porpoises played around the boat with over 7 individuals spotted! What a great tour!!!

- Darcy Philpott 

Tour at 9:00

Report from Eldey: The sea conditions were great this morning. Not very different from the day before. We also got a great view on the coastline. Everything around could be seen very clearly. After about 50 minutes we encountered our first cetacean species in the distance. minke whales! at first they were a bit shy and a bit tricky to find again but we finally got a good look at them. I counted at least two individuals on this first encounter. We also saw one them lunging (feeding on the surface with the mouth wide open). That move was amazing!also the passengers could get a great look of the top of the animal. We got a call from another boat saying there was a humpback whale around and we finally found it after some minutes of search! it was an amazing encounter. We stayed with the animal for about 25 minutes. It displayed a very impressive behaviour. It did multiple tail throws (which is basically slapping its fluke against the surface). We also got some nice pictures that might help us identifying the individual!we are really happy about that. After that we went away from the area in search of other whale species. We saw at least three more minkes and we finally saw a small pod of at least four white-beaked dolphins about 200 meters from the boat! We were running out of time after that encounter so we headed back home. We were hoping for some more action on the way. Our wishes came true!we encountered one pod of harbor porpoises very close to the boat!!It was definitely a very successful tour!

- Jorge Pascual

Birds seen on today´s tours:cormorant, Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, lesser black backed gull, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, greater black-backed gull, arctic tern, eider duck, arctic skua, manx shearwater.