Saturday 29 May 2010

Tour at 13:00

The weather was like this morning’s tour, flat calm sea and sunny. The perfect whale watching weather. The first species we came across was Harbour Porpoises. A small pod and quite elusive Porpoises so we didn´t stay with them long. Then in the distance 2km away (yes that is how great the conditions were that we could see that far away) we saw White-beaked Dolphins (20-30 dolphins). We stayed with them for a while but had to be more cautious with this group because they had a couple of young dolphins with them. We then went further out to find some Minke Whales but we came across another pod of Harbour Porpoises which were really fun to watch. We then found a Minke Whale which surfaced often and on occasion less than 100 meters from the boat. This Minke was nice but we wanted to find others so we headed further out and found another pod of White-beaked Dolphins but these were very elusive and only seen twice so they also probably had a juvenile with them too. Birds we saw were Guillemots, Gannets, Arctic Terns, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gulls, an Arctic Skua and many Puffins. We got to spend time with one more Minke Whale before heading back to the coast to view Akurey (Puffin Island)  were there were thousands of Puffins. What a great day!!

 

Tour at 9:00

The weather was absolutely gorgeous as we headed out into Faxaflói Bay today, the sea was like a mirror. We started the tour by visiting Akurey where we saw thousands of Puffins. It took us about 20 minutes to spot our first Minke Whale today so a lot closer to coast than the last couple of days. There were many species and individuals in the same area, Minke Whales, White-beaked Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises. At one time we couldn´t choose where to look as the bay was so productive. On our way back we spotted another group of White-beaked Dolphins and they were very interactive, surfacing very close, travelling under the boat and also breaching out of the water. Couldn´t ask for a better tour. ;)