Monday, 21 June 2010

Tour at 20:30

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Tour at 17:00

It was a bit of a drizzly tour this one but it didn´t deter the whales. It was overcast but the sea was almost flat calm. We started by visiting Lundey (Puffin Island) but there wasn´t so many Puffins as the last two tours. I think they were having a nice nap in their warm sheltered borrows. We then headed out into Faxaflói and it wasn´t long until we came across a small pod of Harbour Porpoises. They weren´t so interactive but they surfaced many times so we watched them for a while before we headed further and further offshore. Then we saw pod after pod of White-beaked Dolphins. There were so many scattered small groups which also weren´t that playful but it was really nice to see so many nonetheless. We watched two groups for a time, sometimes getting less that 50 meters, before we went searching for the Minke Whale. One Minke was seen very far in the distance. It surfaced many times changing direction a lot as we got closer and closer. It went on a deep dive heading towards us and then when it resurfaced it was only 10 meters from our boat. Absolutely amazing. Birds we saw on this tour were, Arctic Terns, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gannets, Gulls, Eider Ducks, Black Guillemots and Puffins.

 

Tour at 13:00

Dear diary. Trip two. Again they were quite close to land so it took us only 10 minutes after leaving the Puffin island Akurey to find the whales. It was a large group of White-beaked dolphins and a nice one. We spent some time with them, watching them feeding. After that we sailed further out to find the Minke Whales. But a small group of Harbour porpoises crossed our path and our passengers could have a good look at them. And further out we spotted a Minke Whale and not only one, but three or four. Some of them came close others further away. But very nice. So three kinds of cetaceans today, not bad. ;).

 

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan It was overcast today but at least for this tour it didn´t rain. We started by visiting Puffin Island (Lundey) and saw hundreds if not thousands of Puffins. So that was a nice start to the tour. We then headed out into Faxaflói and it wasn´t long until we saw our first Minke Whale. We spent quite a while with this Minke as it was surfacing many times. After a while we got word from our sister vessel, Elding which was a lot further offshore, that they were in an area where there were many Minke Whales. So off we go. There were at least 3-4 in the area so yes we found a really great spot for Whale Watching. After a time watching the Minkes we got word again from Elding about a pod of White-beaked Dolphins but as soon as we arrived they had left :(. We started our journey back to the harbour and on our way back we saw a small pod of Harbour Porpoises. There was also a few more Minkes seen on the way back but alas, our time was out and we had to get home. Excellent tour.

Report from Elding. Dear diary. Today we spotted a small group of Harbour Porpoises soon after we left the Puffin island Akurey. It was a nice group, surfacing many times. After that we spotted 3-4 Minke Whales a little bit further out. One of the Minke Whale scared the hell out of the people by coming up suddenly, really close to the boat just 30 m. in front. What a perfect Minke Whale, surfacing four times very close to us. The other whales were a little bit further away. On our way back we spotted a small group of White-beaked dolphins. This group was very shy so we headed back to the harbour, very happy after a successful trip in beautiful weather.