Monday, 27 October 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: Our afternoon tour started and ended in Grindavík. At the other side of the Reykjanes we found some shelter from the strong northwesterly wind. We enjoyed the sunshine almost the whole tour through just towards the end of the tour it was raining a little on us but we saw the rain clouds and rain showers in the distance around us long before. Then at the moment we left the boat it started hailing, so we were very lucky the whole tour through. We found a big group of harbour porpoises splashing while swimming very fast not long after we left the harbour and another pod with a tiny calf swimming next to its mother towards the end. In total there were around 15 individuals or even more out of Grindavík. We looked at Eldey, rainbows, the by the sun nicely lighten up snowy mountains, town, rocks and lighthouses, which made it a beautiful sightseeing tour. We also met different species of seabirds but as no whales or dolphins came across our way we invited everybody for another try within the next two years.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out of the harbour of Reykjavík in the sunrise and had great visibility at Snæfellsjökull and all the other snowy mountains. But the wind and swell reduced our sight range on the water. Once there was one white-beaked dolphin surfing fast a wave and twice a single harbour porpoise was visible for a very short glimpse. As most people were not lucky enough to spot it, we hope everybody will be successful next time with the complimentary ticket which allows this person to come back for free anytime in the next two years. So we had to conform ourselves with a bird watching tour from migrating geese to very tiny birds which looked like they were hoping up and down through the sky instead of flying in a straight line. We found several flocks of feeding seagulls, dipping regularly in the water to catch something but hopefully the next time cetaceans (which let themselves be watched properly) will emerge among the birds.

- Carine Zimmermann

Birds seen on today's tour include: Northern gannets, northern fulmars, black-backed gulls, glaucous gulls, eider ducks, cormorants, kittiwakes, common guillemots, manx shearwter and geese.