Thursday, 01 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was very nice. The sun was shining there was not much of a breeze and there were less waves as well. This is all very good when whale watching. We headed first to Puffin Island (Lundey) and there was a group of Puffins sitting on the water just right outside of the island. We got close to them and it was very pretty to see them with the sunlight against them and the mountain Esja in the background. We then headed out to sea towards the area that we had seen dolphins earlier today. Sure enough it was not long before we spotted some White-Beak Dolphins. They were jumping up and out of the water making splashes. We got closer to them and soon we could see that there were many of them. In total there were probably 20 to 30 different dolphins swimming and jumping around the boat at various distances. It was very beautiful. We spent quite some time with these dolphins and were also able to see the northern gannet as it dived into the sea to fish. We eventually left the dolphins to pursue what we thought was a blow of a whale. This whale however did not show itself again. We headed back towards the harbour with the setting sun behind us shining on mount Esja and Reykjavik. It was a beautiful evening with some lovely dolphins.

-Taylor Theódór

Tour at 14:00:

Report from Elding: The weather had gotten a lot better this afternoon. We started in Akurey where we saw some puffins and other birds. We headed out to the same area as that morning and we found another pod of about 15 White-beaked Dolphins. They came close to the boat and even swam under it. We could see them under the surface and they were all around us. We decided to head a bit further out and search for something more. We searched a very big area but unfortunetly we didn't see anything more but the sun was shining and the sea had calmed down so it was a beautiful tour.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had calmed down and the sun was warming us when we headed out to Faxa Bay this afternoon. We went to see the Puffins on Akurey and we were lucky, some of them were home. After a while we headed out into the bay to find some whales. It was a bit difficult as we had to search a long time even though there were a lot of sea birds offshore we only saw one Minke Whale very briefly and than it was gone. In the end of the tour we found a pod of White Beaked Dolphins, between 8-12 animals. They were travelling very close in their pod and we managed to get a good look at them before we headed back to shore. What a beautiful, sunny day!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 10:00:

Report from Elding: The weather this morning was not to good and it was a bit choppy. We started our tour in Lundey where we saw a lot of puffins on the sea. We sailed to our main whale watching area and as soon as we got there we noticed some splashes which were from a jumping White-beaked Dolphin. It was part of a pod of about 5 dolphins but this one kept on jumping constantly. It probably jumped 30-40 times, twisting and turning in the air. We watched these dolphins for a while before continuing our search for something more. We encountered a big flock of Northern Gannets that were plunging in to the water all around the boat and came very close, what a beautiful sight.  We searched for a little while longer before heading back but we didn't find anything more.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out from Reykjavík and the weather was a little wavy. We stopped by Akurey to see the puffins and there were quite a few in front of the island and flying around the boat. We headed out to sea and saw many flocks of birds, but no signs of whales. Eventually we spotted a blow and waited to see if this whale would come up again, but it disappeared. We saw many northern gannets diving from the air down into the water. We saw another minke whale, but again this whale did not surface many times. All of the sudden just as we were about to make our way back to the harbour some White-Beaked Dolphins appeared right in front of the boat. The rode along the bow and played along side the boat. Some of them even breached jumping out of the water and rolling in the air. It was a great way to end our tour. Despite not seeing these minke whales too well we were all very happy to have seen some dolphins.

-Taylor Theódór