Saturday, 19 June 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: This evening was very calm and conditions were good as we headed out into the bay for the sixth and final time today. We had to go quite far out this evening as with previous tours. Our search began where we had seen minkes the last time around and we hoped we could spot them again. Soon after we arrived at the site we saw a minke from very far off and headed towards it. Before we could get to it however we were intercepted by a pod of White-beaked dolphins! These individuals were quite calm and we were able to observe them as they swam slowly past our front. We followed the dolphins for a while and got some excellent close up looks before we decided to move on. Our search went on for about ten minutes when a minke whale smell hit the boat and we turned upwind to look for its owner. Sure enough a Minke whale was spotted up wind and we raced towards it. This individual was quite calm and surfaced quite regularly allowing us a good encounter. We also got a good whiff of the pungent minke smell! All in all a good tour and we headed back to Reykjavik with Bjarni and Þorgils playing live music on the way back.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The rain had stopped, and this was a huge bonus to the already good sea conditions from the day. There was even a few glimpes of blue sky through the overcast clouds to give us some hope of a better summer coming! But of course the weather doesn´t affect these whales and we had another good trip. It was just one indiviudal of one species but it was a very entertaining one. It was the Minke Whale! And this was a minke we knew very well, one named "Midi" that we´ve seen every year since 2008. An old friend of ours! Midi was very calm around the boat and was very happy to swim very close in front of us giving the whole boat a great view. It was a long and calm swim around our area that ended when Midi dove down and disappeared from sight. Though we had just the one sighting it was an excellent one and the better weather was always a great addition to the tour.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: It was still raining as we sailed out on the bay this afternoon. This time around, it took us quite while to find something. After more than an hour looking, we finally found some minke whales. There were about four of them spread out over quite a large area and they appeared to be feeding in the surface, despite our fishfinder showing nothing of that kind. But around them were some feeding arctic terns and among these minkes was Midi, who was first identified in the summer of 2008 in the Faxaflói bay. At one point, it was even rolling in the surface, showing off its pectorals and its white belly. Beautiful. On the way back, the rain even stopped. Nice!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This afternoon we were as wet as the whales, but that just made us appreciate them even more. The sea conditions were excellent though and the conditions for whale watching were almost perfect aide from the rain. We got to see two species on this afternoons tour, first was a single Harbour Porpoise that made its appearance quite close to the boat. It stayed around for a little while before diving down not to be seen again, as porpoises do. But we would get a much better species a little later when we spotted a pair of Minke Whales in the same area. One was much closer than the other and even made several surfaces right beside the boat, if you were lucky you could even see the white stripes on its pectoral fins shining under the surface. After some time with these whales we searched for a little longer but eventually headed back to Reykjavík wet yet happy.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: Today we had excellent conditions for whale watching with a spot of rain but very calm seas. This time around we had to go very far out to get to where the cetaceans were likely to be. We started our search in an area that had been teeming with cetaceans just minutes earlier. They proved to be quite elusive though and we spotted nothing. Then we got a report from our sister vessel Hafsúlan that they had spotted cetaceans a short distance away from us. We headed in that direction and pretty soon spotted a Minke whale! The first individual was quite elusive but we soon found more, including an individual we call humpie. Alongside humpie we also found some White-beaked dolphins who were very social and friendly. The dolphins interacted with the boat a lot and were simply playing under the front of our boat for a while, surfacing right next to us! All the while humpie and another minke surfaced close by. A long search but well worth it in the end on this tour.

-Ívar Elí

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out on the bay underneath a light drizzle. The first pod of white-beaked dolphins was found only about 20 minutes into the tour, much closer to the shore than is usual. We approached them and managed to get quite close to them and saw that the pod consisted of around 5 animals. After we left them, we spotted about 4 more pods, each one consisting of around 5 or 6 animals. Shortly after we took a southerly course again, we found two minke whales that were slowly swimming along in the surface, surfacing frequently but yet keeping a distance to our boat. On the way back, the last pod of dolphins was spotted and this time, it was quite big with around 15 individuals. This time, they were leaping, breaching and even approaching us, putting on a nice show for us! Nice sightings on a very rainy summer morning.

-Arnór Tumi

Birds seen on todays tour: Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Manx Shearwater, Guillemot, Razorbill, Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, Great Skua.