Sunday, 9 May 2010

Tour at 13:00

The weather was even better during this tour than the one before. We sailed straight to the area where we had the sightings on the tour before but there were not as many birds there and no whales. We then sailed a bit further out and on the way there we spotted some Harbour Porpoises as well as some White-Beaked Dolphins. While looking at the Dolphins we spotted the first Minke Whale, and then another one, and another one and before we knew it we had lost count. There were so many of them all around us. There were about 3-4 large flocks of feeding birds there and it seemed as if the Minke Whales were associating with the birds swimming between them and feeding. Birds we spotted were e.g. Puffins, Guillemots, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gannet, Arctic Terns, Black-Backed Gulls and at least 5 Arctic Skuas. On the way back to the harbour we stopped by the other Puffin colony, Akurey, it was the same there as earlier when we went to Lundey, not many Puffins but some Black-Backed Gulls and Kittiwakes. A really great tour with lots of Minke Whales, some Harbour Porpoises White-Beaked Dolphins, so many birds and let’s not forget about the beautiful weather.

 

Tour at 09:00

The weather was really good the whole day today. Some swell on the way out but not to bad. After sailing for about 30 minutes we spotted a large flock of birds feeding in front of us. When we got to the area we noticed that these were the Arctic Terns, so many of them so they have finally arrived back for the summer. Under and around the birds we then spotted Minke Whales it's really hard to say how many they were but they were obviously feeding there. We also spotted some Harbour Porpoises. On the way back to the harbour we then stopped by Lundey or Puffin Island which is one of two Puffin colonies here close to Reykjavík, unfortunately there were not many Puffins there on the Island this time, they were probably out feeding, but few of them were swimming there around the Island along with some Black Guillemots, Black-Backed Gulls and Kittiwakes. Out during the tour we spotted Puffins, Guillemots, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gannets, Arctic Terns, Black-Backed Gulls, some Shear waters and Arctic Skuas.