Sunday, 4 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsulan: We had to had to the East on this tour to get the shelter from the land, the orca were tralling to fast and getting into waters that are unsuitable. The evening tour was quite difficult with a few misidenitication blows and splashes which we thought might be something but ended up being nothing. The landscape was beautiful and lots of birds around with the warm evening light but we searched and searched but no luck with the whales UNTIL... just 5 minutes of reaching the harbour we found a Minke Whale that surfaced many times and everyone got a good look. Just need to be patient and never give up looking.

-Megan Whittaker

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: It was still windy in Grindavík as we headed out this afternoon. This time we went west, along the Reykjanes peninsula as we had had reports of sightings there. It took us a long while to get there but once we arrived we spotted orca which appeared to be the same ones we had seen this morning. This time, however, they were not surfacing as frequently and didn't come as close. We got a few good sightings before they suddenly disappeared. We then headed back east but did not see anything else despite searching thoroughly. Quite disappointing but that's just the way it sometimes is. Quite a windy and rough tour with some sea sick passengers and a few good sightings.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsulan: Once again we sailed out from Grindavik and after just 5 minutes of leaving the harbour the passengers spotted the Orca again, they had moved a long way since the mornings tour and unfortunately for us in the wrong direction as we had less shelter from the land and thus the sea was a bit more rough. The orca was more scattered too on this tour but they were still very active, spy-hopping, breaching, tail slapping, and even mating which is a very rare thing to observe, you could see the penis of the males a couple of times, it was huge!. A very evenful afternoon. Lets hope they turn around though so we can observe them on the next tour too.

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: This morning we left from Grindavík's harbour as the seas were much rougher in Reykjavík. As soon as we left the harbour we heard that Hafsúlan had spotted orca so we headed towards them. As we arrived, we spotted a pod of Orcas. Among them were two large males and at least one very small calf. They appeared to be feeding as they changed their speed and direction a lot. Two of the smaller orca that were swimming together seemed to be curious as they approached us a few times, spy-hopping always surfacing simultaneously. Funny how such cute animals can be called killer whales. After we arrived, Hafsúlan left us and we spent the next hour with these beautiful animals. Excellent tour on a bright yet windy day.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out from Grindavik on this tour to get best shelter from the strong winds. The high cliffs that we hugged did this perfectly providing much better sea conditions than in Faxafloi Bay. We had an amazing tour with 8-9 Orca from large males to calves only a couple of weeks old. There were a couple of bold sub adults that did the more spectacular behaviours including spy-hopping, lunging fluking, tail slapping. They were definately feeding on herring that seemed to be hording together for protect but this just made it easier for the orca and seabirds to feed. A wonderful tour in blustery winds off of Grindavik.

- Megan Whittaker

Birds seen on todays tour includes, lesser black backed gulls, gannets, fulmars, black guillemot, common guillemots and one puffin.