Sunday, 05 July 2015

Tour at 20:30

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind was higher than earlier in the day but the sea was still very calm as we sailed this evening. This was a very quick starting tour with just 20 minutes sailing gone before we sighted our first minke whale. We stayed with this first whale for around 10 minutes and it was a nice start as it was surfacing very clearly near us. It took just another 10 minutes before our second species was sighted, this time it was the white-beaked dolphins. At first we followed a pod of 4-5 dolphins but they led us to a larger group of 12-15 dolphins. These dolphins were excellent, very comfortable around the boat and happy to swin close by our side. The best part was when one dolphin decided to start breaching really close to the boat, jumping many metres in the air before crashing down with a splash. After moving on from this area we sighted lots of birds feeding in the distance, when we got to this place we found 2 more minke whales feeding beside the birds. As they were feeding they were surfacing quite frequently and in perfect view of all the passengers. A really successful tour and on our way back Bjarni the musician serenaded us back to shore.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We went out knowing there was a humpback whale in the bay so we headed straight out. After only about 40 minutes of sailing we saw blows in the distance a few hundreds meters from the boat. We figured it was the humpback whale and right we were. We had heard that he had been breaching and lunge feeding but unfortunately he wasn't in that kind of mood at this time. He was still very friendly, coming close to the boat, popping up just a few meters from us for everyone to see. This was just great and everybody were really excited. After only few minutes three white-beaked dolphins showed up and for the next hour and a half the humpback and the dolphins were travelling together in short distance of the boat. When we thought it couldn't get a lot better than this we came across a really big flock of seabirds, northern gannets plunging in the sea, black-backed gulls, guillemots and arctic terns in hundreds. Then some minke whales started to pop up all around the boat. At one time we had at least 4 individuals around the boat but unfortunately the time was running out so we had to go back. On our way home the tour was far from over and we encountered two minke whales, one really close to the harbour. This was a great way to end the day and we went home really happy. 

-Katrín Björnsdóttir

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: It is hard to put into words the tour which this afternoon experienced. It started out like any tour with in the first hour we found a nice minke whale and later a small pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins. These were all good animals who stayed around for some time and were easy to photograph. But we then heard reports of a humpback whale by our boat Hafsúlan, so we abandoned our current area to travel here. When we got there the magic began... we first saw the blow alerting us to the whales presence, then it began breaching! At my count 8 times but it could have easily been more, jumping clear of the water before crashing back to earth and making huge splashes. This wasn't´t close to the end, it then started throwing its long pectoral fins out of the water and waving them around. When we got within 50 m of the whale it then started feeding, next to the boat! It was throwing its head of the water, mouth fully open with fish and water in full view of every passenger on board! This was just meters from us! The whole event lasted around 30 minutes before we had to turn back... this was an utterly unique tour that it was such a pleasure to be a part of. This was the tour that memories are made of.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Similar to the morning tour, this tour started with a minke whale spotted after only about 30 min of sailing in to Faxaflói. We spent some time with this individual and also saw another minke whale further away from us, but then we decided to head further out. As we were doing so, we came across small pod of about three harbour porpoises. But these small animals disappeared very quickly again and we moved on. We came into an area with more minke whales after a while, and could see three minke whales surfacing around us, and we could even hear their blows and also smelled the terrible minke whale breath. However, we also spotted a few dolphins in some distance from us, so we headed towards them to get a closer look. And very soon we could see four white-beaked dolphins traveling next to us, with one minke whale surfacing a little further away. After we moved on, we found a large flock of feeding birds again and decided to check that area out, and soon spotted another minke whale. Yes, there were many minke whales on this tour. However, our Captain spotted a big splash about two miles away, so we went there and finally found a humpback whale. We didn't have that much time left to spend with this animal, but we saw it surfacing only 50 m from the boat and we could see it raising its fluke out of the water a few times. Great ending for our tour! 

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: Another day, another calm, flat sea with low wind. This summer is turning out to be the best one in years already! It didn´t take long to find some of our desired animals with around 30 minutes gone before finding our first minke whale. This individual was resting and so after just a short while we moved on to let this whale sleep. After a short distance we found a great area with 4 minke whales all in a small area, they were all quite active and easy to watch. Further on we found 3 white-beaked dolphins, we followed these for some time while always seeing more dolphins further away. It turned out they were part of one large pod which was around 12-15 individuals. The highlight came when this big pod found some fish and began feeding at the surface really close to the boat! We were able to watch them feeding for 15 minutes as they were beside us. An awesome end to what was a really successful day.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather and sea conditions have been really amazing in the last days and today as well. So we could sail out from Reykjavík in to a flat and calm sea this morning. After about 30 minutes we spotted the first minke whale, and soon noticed that in fact there were three minke whales around us. We watched them getting closer to us for a while and could see them surfacing within 100 m from our boat. After a while we decided to head further offshore to look for more cetaceans, but even on the way we saw another two minke whales a few times in some distance. As we were searching for other species, we spotted a large flock of feeding birds far away and headed towards it. Since seabirds and cetaceans feed on the same fish species, they can often be seen hunting together, so we were hopeful to also find cetaceans near the birds. Indeed, there were two minke whales lunge feeding underneath this flock of birds. We watched them for quite a while until we left them to find some dolphins. And before we had to start our way back to the harbour, we found a small pod of about six white-beaked dolphins. Exactly what we were hoping for!

- Hanna Michel

Birds seen on todays tour include: Kittiwakes, black-backed gulls, Arctic terns, Arctic skuas, gannets, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, eider ducks, northern fulmars.