Saturday, 8 June 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It really is incredible how wildlife changes. The puffinns were all on the island and we did see two Minke Whales and 2-3 White-beaked Dolphins but they all seemed to be sleeping, travelling very slowly and almost stealth like as sometimes you could just make out the tip of the dorsal fin. We did see a few species of birds too including, Flumars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, puffins (of course), arctic skuas, but it definately was not as active as the previous tours.

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 14:00 Report from Elding: The clouds had gotten darker but the sea was still very calm. We headed out but the tour started out very slowly, we saw 1 Minke Whale surface around 100 meters away from us for two times but then it was gone, we searched around the area and saw another one which came a little bit closer to us, but just like the other one it was gone after it took a deep dive. We sailed further out and finally found a beautiful pod of 20-30 White-beaked Dolphins that were moving very fast, as we they got closer to us they started to ride the wave of the boat and we could see them perfectly swimming under the boat and surfacing a few centimeters away from us! They played around us for a while and it was amazing! On our way back to the harbour a Minke Whale surfaced just in front of the boat and we got to see it two times before it swam away, what a perfect "good bye" for this tour from the Minke! We ended this trip in the Puffin Island, Akurey, and watched the puffins around us, very nice ending to an exciting tour.- Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out in dark,threatening skies which never rained. The wind had picked up a little bit but is was still not very cold. We saw a Lot of Harbour Porpoises on the way out, 3-4 pods of 5-10 animals in one, and 2-3 in the others. We also got to see about 6 Minke Whales which with a lot of patience we had surfacing maybe 50-60 meters from the boat. We were losing hope for the dolphins but in the end they found us, jumping out of the water, almost saying "I´M OVER HERE", these 20-30 White-beaked Dolphins were in a hurry but still nice to watch. We ended the tour at Akurey and were delighted to see all a lot of the puffins at home.

- Megan WhittakerTour at 10:00Report from Elding: The weather was good although the sun wasn't shining and we started off going to the Puffin Island, Akurey. The tour got exciting as soon as we headed a little bit further out. We saw some Harbour Porpoises on our way and soon the first Minke Whale which surfaced about 40 meters away from us. The crew on Hafsúlan brought us the news off dolphins a little further out so we decided to go there, and we weren't dissappointed! around 15-25 White beaked dolphins headed our way, and they were in a hurry and surfaced quickly and took almost theyr whole body out of the water, we sailed with them for a while and got a good look at them. While we were watching the dolphins we saw a Minke Whale very close to us and we sticked around in that area and saw around 2 Minke Whales surface very close to us, only 10 meters away and even stuck theyr head up and took a look at us! Scanning the area we could see other Minke Whales in there and some harbour Porpoises, everything was crowded with life.- Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out today on calm seas and ominous dark clouds, the tour stayed dry however, not a drop of rain dropped on our heads. The tour started off at Puffin Island and there were many to be seen. The rest of the tour was a little bit slow to begin with but soon got active with 5-7 Minke Whales, 15-25 White beaked Dolphins, which were leaping and surfacing quickly at about 12 mph and loads of seabirds. An incredible tour in the end with lots too see in every direction you turned your head.

- Megan Whittaker

Birds seen on todays tours include: Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Northern Gannets, Atlantic Puffins, Cormorants, Manx Shearwater, Common Guillemots, Arctic Terns and Lesser Black-backes Gulls, Razorbills, Arctic Skuas.