Monday, 15 September 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Our third tour today also started in Hafnarfjörður but ended in Reykjavík. There was a bit of wind and still swell. Our "birdwatching" tour this evening was quite diverse as we saw feeding gannets, gliding and resting fulmars, migrating geese, passing manx shearwater and black-backed gulls, common guillemots sitting on the water surface and even an arctic skua flying by. Unfortunately no cetacean showed up, even though the dark wave tips often reminded us of dorsal fins. We could enjoy an almost-sunset colouring the sky in yellow and orange and the ocean surface in gold. Hopefully everybody will come back with their complimentary tickets to get another chance to see the whales of Faxaflói.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Due to unfavourable weather conditions we left from the harbour in Hafnarfjörður for our afternoon tour. There was still quite a bit of wind, but luckily the swell had decreased and we were in more sheltered waters than during the morning tour. Again we started out by heading into the wind and enjoyed a bit of a roller-coaster ride. We searched an area that was full of birds and got some great views of diving gannets. But unfortunately there was nothing but birds to be discovered and so we eventually decided to turn around and sail with the wind. Just as we were starting to think about heading back towards Hafnarfjörður we discovered some black bodies dashing through the waves - straight towards us! It turned out to be a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins that were not afraid to approach our boat very closely. One individual used our wake for some bow-riding while others swam quickly around and underneath our boat - offering us great looks at their bodies under water as well as above the surface. After a while the dolphins disappeared much earlier than we would have wished for - but they had still rewarded the patience this trip had required!

- Linda

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: As we headed out into the bay this morning we were greeted by quite a strong swell - a remainder of the storm the day before. Fortunately though, the rain stopped just before we left and we even enjoyed some sunshine later on... We headed out into the wind - trying our best to find signs of life in the bay. We did find quite a few diving gannets which were - as always- impressive to watch. But even though we searched a large area we did not manage to find any whales, dolphins or porpoises. And so we gave out complimentary tickets on our way back and hope that our passengers will join us again within the next two years to (hopefully!) see some more whales.

- Carine Zimmermann

Birds seen on today´s tour include: Eider Ducks, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Fulmars, Northern Gannets, Common Guillemots, Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, Manx Shearwater, Geese.