Sunday, 11 May 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: As usual after a morning tour we headed out to the same area where we were successful, this area would prove to have nothing for us to see. This meant we had to keep sailing out further into the bay, we actually sailed much further than we have had to in recent weeks but it was certainly worth it. We found 2 Minke Whales together when we had sailed very far out, the highlight of the tour was one of the minkes lunge feeding and rolling at the surface just 50m away from the boat, it showed off its huge pink ventral pleats and striped pectoral fins. It did this multiple times while everyone got a fantastic view of it. It was like it knew people were watching and wanted to put on a show! It was a very special thing to see and we all knew how lucky we were to see such a beautiful thing. And what made this even more special was that this was a minke that we knew very well! This was Midi! We´ve seen this minke every year since 2008 and to see it for another year gives us great joy for the summmer.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: While the fantastic weather from previous days had faded we still had a nice calm sea and the overcast sky gave the ocean a pale colour that only made it easier to spot the whales. After around an hour of sailing we came across some Harbour Porpoise, it was a small pod of 2-3 individuals and we managed to get a few looks at them before they dived away. We would spot a few more pods of these animals over the course of the tour but that wasn´t the species we had hoped to see. Not long after the first porpoises we found our first Minke Whale, we managed to see 3 minkes this morning! They were diving for quite a long time and kept us guessing where they would resurface but that always adds to the excitement. After watching the whales for quite a while we realised we had sailed quite far and so had to sail back to Reykjavík.

- Jack Ball

Birds seen on todays tour include: Northern Fulmar, Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Arctic Tern, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Eider Duck, Black-Backed Gull.