Sunday, 20 March 2016

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: As we were leaving the harbour the conditions looked good but as we all know out in the bay can be a whole other story. We knew about the swell and chance of rain so we recommended everyone to take a seasickness tablet if sensitive and use the onboard complimentary overalls to keep warm and dry if they didn't have their own rain/ski gear with them. We sailed offshore but the swell was worse than this morning, we did our best to make the journey as comfortable as possible but after a few green faces we felt that we couldn't travel west any further. Luckily we saw a blow about a km in the distance towards the north and once closer we saw it was a minke whale. Not just any minke whale but one that we call 'Midi'. Midi is identifiable by the square notch taken out near the tip of the dorsal fin. Midi has been encountered on a total of 47 days since 2008. Great to see our regulars returning to the bay after going abroad to the tropics (breeding grounds. It was incredible to watch Midi, as we were able to stay with him/her for a while and it was also seen rolling (most likely feeding) at the surface. It would have been nice to have gone further offshore to see the humpback whales but unfortunately the sea conditions were just to unfriendly. Thankfully Midi was there to keep us entertained. 

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: An overcast sky and some light rain met us this morning. Further out in the bay we had some swells that rocked the boat but in general a quite smooth ride for the North Atlantic. We heard news from another whale watching boat that left at 8 am already that they had located the whales and dolphins about 1 hour of sailing from the harbor. So we knew where to go from the start. On our way we came across a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins, that we had a look at before moving on. The dolphins were very relaxed and surfaced slowly next to us and even swam underneath the boat. Closer to the area further out we could already see the big blows from at least 2 humpback whales! In total we had at least 5 individuals around us, some a bit further away. We could observe the whales for a long time and see them surfacing with the big blows shooting up in the air. In the same area 10-20 dolphins were also present and some were following one of the humpbacks very closely. We could sail back with the swells and enjoy a very nice encounter with the humpbacks on this morning tour. 

- Marcus Bergström

Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, "blue fulmar", glaucous gull, Iceland gull, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull (summer plumage!), herring gull, common gull, kittiwake, shag, long-tailed duck, and eider duck.