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Sunday, 7 July 2013

Tour at 20:30

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Tour at 17:00Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had gotten calmer and we started out with going to Akurey, one of the Puffin Islands before we headed further out to search for some whales. We sailed around for a long time and we could notice that there weren't as much bird life like earlier this day although we did see a big group of sea-Gulls and Northern Gannets feeding, we sailed around them to check if the whales were there to but didn't see any. We spotted a blow about 100-150 meters away from us but that animal seemed to be very elusive and we didn't see it again. We searched for a long time and covered a big area but unfortunately the whales were not showing them selves in this tour so we gave all of our passengers Complementary tickets which are good for two years and truly hope that we will see them again soon and that they will have better luck next time. But although there was no whale sighting we hope that our guests enjoyed the sailing, it's always good to have a ocean experience from Iceland!- Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 14:00

Report from Elding: This afternoon, the wind had picked up and as we went out on faxa bay and we were facing quite rough conditions. We directly headed out towards where we had seen a Minke Whale earlier in the day, but instead, our captain Jon spotted a couple of White-beaked Dolphins very close to the boat. It was a bit hard to follow them, but we saw them surfacing close to our boat for about 3 times before we continued to find something else. When a group of seabirds caught our attention, we spotted the black back of a Minke Whale right within the birds. We saw it surfacing another couple of times as we got closer. When the Minke decided to go for  a long dive, we went towards where we had spotted Northern Gannes diving. Again, we were lucky, when another Minke surfaced just 5 meters next to our boat. We were quite happy about these sightings during such rough weather and since some of our passengers were feeling a bit sea sick, we decided to head towards Lundey, one of the islands close to Reykjavik where the Atlantic Puffins are breeding in the summer. The island was crowded with hundreds or thousands of puffins sitting on the grass and rocks exposing their white bellys to us. A nice finish of a truly icelandic adventure!

- Hendrik SchultzTour at 13:00Report from Hafsúlan: the wind had picked up since this morning and unfortunately we couldn't enjoy the landscape around Reykjavík like in the earlier tours because of the clouds, but of course that didn't make us lose hope about finding some whales! After around 30-40 minutes of sailing we spotted a Minke Whale that surfaced only around 25 meters away from our boat. It swam around us and we got a very good look at it. After the Minke swam away we kept on searching and it was a short time until we found 2 other Minkes that were surfacing very quickly and we got an amazing look at them, one even came just in front of the boat and very high out of the ocean surface. We could watch the Minke's swim around us and the Northern Gannets & Arctic Terns hunting, while the Great Skua was trying to steal food from them. We ended the trip in Akurey, on of the Puffin Islands and watched more of the beautiful wild life of Iceland.-Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: When we started from Reykjavik today, it was a bit windy, but all in all quite calm compared to the day before. We stopped by at Akurey, one of the puffin islands, before going further out and had a nice time with the clowns of the sea. When we went further out, it took us about 40 minutes until we spotted a Minke Whale. We saw it surfacing several times, but then it disappeared without any trace. As we kept on scanning the water, we spotted 2 White-beaked Dolphins so we enjoyed watching these beautiful creatures. However, similarly to the Minke, the dolphins only showed themselves very shortly and left us with the unfulfilled wish to see them for a bit longer. But that is nature and we had to accept the dolphins' decision. Still, it was a nice tour with a Minke, a couple of dolphins and some beautiful seabirds such as the Northern Gannet and Arctic Skua.

- Hendrik SchultzTour at 9:00Report from Hafsúlan: The sky was kind of gray when we headed out but the waves were not that big, although there were some. After we stopped by in Akurey, one of the Puffin Islands we headed out and only after 10 minutes we found our first Minke Whale. It was probably surface feeding as our fish detector showed that there was a lot of fish in the surface of the ocean ( from 0-15 meters) we watched it surface for 8-10 times and obviously it was quite curios as it was swimming around the boat like it was watching us, but then the Minke decided to head away. But fortunately we found 2 other Minke Whales in the area and one of them came very close and we could watch both of them surfacing around us while there were birds like the Northern Gannet diving down around them. It was a good trip were we could watch the animals in Faxa-bay feeding.- Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir

Birds seen on today's tours included: Arctic Terns, Northern Gannets, Arctic Skuas, Eider Ducks, Atlantic Puffins, Common Guillemots, Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes & Manx Shearwaters