Saturday, 26 April 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sun was still shining this lovely afternoon. With a full boat we sailed out to the same areas we were this morning. We did not have to wait for long to see small pod of Harbour Porpoises. They were swimming next to us for few seconds before heading away. After a while we saw flock of feeding birds. Suddenly a pod of White-beaked dolphins surfaced under the birds. It was so beautiful to see them surfacing together. Later on in the tour we found a Minke Whale. This minke was busy finding food and came really close to us few times. After observing this minke closely we found out it was our old and good friend Peanut! So nice to see a good friend in the bay. There were so many birds everywhere in that area, few gannets diving, arctic scuas, few puffins and many more. On the way back we found another pod of White-beaked Dolphins.

It was a fantastic day on the bay.

-Sveinn Guðmundsson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Once again the weather and sea conditions were perfect. A very chilly wind from the NW but the sailing back with the wind was lovely and warm, summer has obviously arrived. 30-40 minutes sailing offshore we found 3 Minke Whales feeding in the same area and suddenly vanished once we got there but out of no where White-beaked Dolphins 3-4 animals surfaced just 10-20 meters from or boat. We watched those for a while before searching for the Minkes again. Again we found 3 Minke Whales, either now ones or same as before just moved a little ways. We saw them surface many times but still at a distance not letting us get too close. After a long while with the Minkes we decided to search for the dolphins again and had them surfacing right next to the boat. There were flocks of feeding birds too, Fulmars, Kittiwakes and seagulls. Occasionally 2-3 small pods of 3-4 Harbour Porpoises also showed up usually surfacing fast. On the way home with the sun of our face we saw two more Minke Whales surfacing very close to our boat. Had to be fast in spotting them though, they are quick!

-Megan

Birds seen on todays tour include: Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Northern Fulmar, Kittiwake, Eider Duck, Common Guillemot, Black-Backed Gull, Greylag Geese, Arctic Skuas, Shags.