Sunday, 8 August 2010

Tour at 17:00

The wind picked up a little but the day was still wonderful. We started at Lundey and unfortunately didn´t see many there, but there were loads of Gulls, Kittiwakes, Eider Ducks and a couple of Skuas. We then sailed out into Faxaflói Bay and briefly saw a small pod of Harbour Porpoises surfacing rapidly so they were vanished pretty quickly. Then we got to the Minke Whale area (area where we have been for the last couple of tours) and saw 3-4 Minke Whales. They were really great, surfing the waves and sometimes surfacing less than 50 meters from us. The Gannets were still there too diving into the water. Then to top it of we found some White-beaked Dolphins. What a fantastic day.

 

Tour at 14:00

We went straight out to look for whales. We found a big flock of feeding gannets and in the same area, we found at least 8 Minke Whales. We observed them for a long time. Some of them came very close to the boat so we could see their pectoral fins very well. After successful sightings with the Minke Whales we headed to the puffin Island Lundey. On the way, we found the Basking Shark and watched it for a long time. It was very relaxed, swimming around the boat so we could see his whole body clearly. We then ended the tour at the puffin Island where we saw about 5 to 10 puffins. This was a great tour in breathtaking landscape and visibility.

 

Tour at 13:00

The weather was fantastic when we headed out to Faxaflói this afternoon, calm sea and the sun was shining. There were very few Puffins around the Puffin colony Lundey, so we sailed out to find the whales. After sailing for about 30 minutes we spotted the first Minke whale.  It surfaced many times so all the passengers could have a good look at it.  In this area were lots of feeding birds, Fulmars, Kittiwake, Puffins and diving Gannets. It is always magnificent to watch these spectacular birds diving into the water.  We also spotted 2-3 more Minke whales. So all together very successful trip;)

 

Tour at 10:00

We started the tour by visiting Lundey, one of two puffin Islands here in Reykjavík. There were quite many puffins there today. After that we sailed in a beautiful weather along Esja. Soon we spotted a big dorsal fin on the surface. It was the Basking Shark. Passengers and crew got all exited, especially when it came next to the boat, only one meter away so we could almost touch it. We could see his huge body, at least 8 meters long, very well. It was slowly surfacing around the boat for a long time and at one point we could see inside his mouth which was fully open. After a long stay with the basking shark we went further out where we found probably 10 Minke Whales. They were in a good mood because some of them came very close to the boat. Passengers left the boat with a big smile.

 

Tour at 9:00

Absolutely the best whale watching day in a long time. Not only was the weather beautiful, sunny, no wind and clear blue sky but there was quite a lot to see nature wise too. We started at Lundey and saw a lot of Puffins. We then headed out into Faxaflói and wasn´t long before we came across an adult and juvenile Harbour Porpoise. They were really interactive and surfaced many times only a few meters from the boat. We then headed further out for about 40-50 minutes to where the Minke Whales were, we must of seen at least 3 or 4 in the area, maybe more but one in particular was a very nice encounter, surfacing many times and once only 10-20 meters from us. There were hundreds of Gannets doing their awesome plunges into the water. So it was already a fantastic tour but wait there´s more, we got word of a Basking Shark in the area which was absolutely amazing. It came so close to us (couple of meters or so). Amazing tour.