Saturday, 22 June 2013

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: Unusual tour this evening. We started in Akurey the puffin island which was full of puffins and other birds. We then sailed out but a long time passed before we finally spotted huge splashes far from us. As we carefully tried to approach what we thought were blows and splashes of a Humpback whale we sailed past lots of birds but we did not manage to get close to these animals. Since it was windy and the sun low over the horizon, the conditions were difficult. At one point the humpback whale was spotted directly in the suns glare so it was difficult to spot. Then very shortly after a minke whale surfaced only few meters from the boat but did not surface again for us to see. After that we did not see much more than birds on the tour. It was apparent that these whales were not in the mood for whale watching tonight and we have to respect that. They were there, just did not come close to the boats, except twice very briefly. The weather was fantastic and the mid night sun stunning and hopefully we will get a closer look at those whales later, when they are up for it.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We  began the tour at Akurey with a lot of puffins in the island both flying about and on the surface. Then we headed out onto Faxaflói to begin our search. Soon we found our first cetacean of the trip, a Minke whale which surfaced a few times close to us and we got some good looks at it. After some time with this minke we moved on and met a few others though they proved to be rather elusive and not interested in us. Towards the later half of the tour however we found some cetaceans more interested in us. Those were the Harbour porpoises which we got a good look at despite them usually being quite shy. Not long after that we met a pod of White-beaked dolphins which is always a fun sight to see. We got to see them very well and could even spot them once or twice swimming just underneath the surface. We then sailed back to Reykjavik harbour in fantastic conditions with the wind and sun at our back, it was a calm pleasure cruise all the way to Reykjavik on a fantastic Icelandic afternoon.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The wind had picked up from this morning as we left for the puffin island Akurey, which turned out to be very lively with lots of puffins on the island as well as on the water surface next to it. We had to sail out further this time to spot the first Minke whales. They were being quite elusive and did not show much interest in our boat. All in all we saw around 8 minke whales. As the tour progressed we found playful White-beaked dolphins in a few pods, some of which approached us, breached and dived under us. Now and again we would see a minke whale in the distance but the dolphins fought harder for our attention. Finally we had to head back and as we were enjoying the sunny day and beautiful scenery, a large whale was spotted very unexpectedly. When it came up again our suspicion was confirmed: It was a Humpback whale and a large one too. It came up several times more, showing its tail fluke three times and blowing vigorously. Finally we had to head back to Reykjavík after an amazing tour with an unexpected end!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Like this morning we had very good weather and good conditions for whale watching. We had to sail a little bit further than on the previous tour but we soon spotted a Minke whale! It surfaced a few times but it was being quite elusive so we decided to move on and search elsewhere. Soon after we spotted quite a few Minkes but they were all elusive and only surfaced a few times and often quite far away before swimming off to somewhere else. As we were heading back the bay exploded with life and we had Minkes on both sides of the boat as well as White-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were absolutely fantastic and put on a great show, breaching and swimming very close to and under the boat. We then ended a great tour by visiting the cute puffin inhabitants of Akurey in the afternoon sun.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We left the harbour in a calm, sunny weather and excellent whale watching conditions. The first Minke whales were spotted closer to the shore than usual. After we had seen the first minke it was very easy. Minke whales were surfacing all around us, with occasional pods of harbour porpoises coming to the surface as well. There must have been close to 20 minke whales all in all. Later on we spotted curious White-beaked dolphins that came very close to us, breaching and diving under the boat definitely enjoying our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. There were several pods of dolphins, all in all probably around 25 - 30. There was no wind at all which is quite rare in Iceland and good visibility so everyone could enjoy the scenery around the Faxaflói bay. The bay as well as Akurey the puffin island were full of birds too. Stunning sightings this morning.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 09:00Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was perfect this morning and we started the tour with going to Akurey, one of the Puffin islands,  and it was crowded with birds. As we headed out we could see a lot of feeding birds in the area which is often a hint that there is food in the bay and that was what our fish detector showed. After only 10-15 minutes we spotted the first Minke Whale and as we watched the horizon we could see Minke Whales surfacing all around us, the bay was simply filled with life. We saw around 20-30 Minkes in the tour and at some time we just stopped the engine of the boat and listened to the whales surfacing around us. We saw the very special feeding behaviours of the whales as they surface fed and lunged. Just when the tour was ending and we were on our way to the harbour we saw 7-10 Harbour Porpoises that surfaced right in front of us and swam next to the boat so we got an amazing look at them.What a perfect tour in beautiful Icelandic summer weather.- Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir Birds seen on today's tours include: Fulmars, Lesser black-backed gulls, Greater black-backed gulls, Arctic Skuas, Common Guillemots, Razorbills, Arctic Terns, Puffins, Eider-Ducks, Greylag geese, Kittiwakes