Thursday, 14 July 2011

Tour at 20:30

OMG!!! What a fun tour! A big group of girls from the UK definitely made this tour into the party boat of the century. What made it even better were the Minke Whales. After about 40 minutes of sailing we saw a massive flock of feeding seabirds in the distance and beneath them were at least 6 Minke Whales. We got as close to the flock as we thought ok and then turned off our engines and soon after we had Minke Whales surfacing everywhere (10-20 individuals). Some 20-30 meters from our boat others a lot further away. We saw some surface feeding, taking advantage of the plentiful fish availible to them. On the way to the Minkes we also came across a small pod of Harbour Porpoises which stayed around the boat for a little while before heading off into the sunset. As we sailed back we had the orange and red sun on our back and full moon behind Reykjavik City in front. One of the best and most fun tours I've had this summer. Extreme Fun!!

 

Tour at 17:00

And again we had the luck with us. Absolutely amazing tour. The minke whales were so nice to us, surfacing many times, very close, rolling underneath the surface so we could see the white belly. But they smelled very badly this afternoon. Many stinky minkes showed up close to the boat, 5-10 meters and some times two to three in the same time. It is difficult to say how many minke whales we saw on this tour, but they were at least 8-10 animals. We spent some time close to the whales and enjoyed them allot. Magnificent tour.

 

Tour at 14:00

Weather had changed a little on this tour. The sea stayed calm but it did cloud over a little and at the end of the tour it started to drizzle. Unfortunately we didn't see the dolphins again but the Minke Whales were still there. Must have seen at least 7-9 individuals but we only concentrated on a couple of them. At first they were surface feeding and causing a lot of splashes then they calmed down and surfaced slowly sometimes 30-40 meters from our boat. Because we had such a great beginning to the tour we headed further out to see what else we could encounter. We saw a couple more Minkes and a pair of Harbour Porpoises which seemed to be on a mission to get some where from the speed they were travelling. We ended the tour at Akurey and there wasn't so many Puffins around but we did see allot out at sea, lets hope the rest are in their borrows incubating those eggs of theirs. Great Minke Tour!!

 

Tour at 13:00

The weather was absolutely gorgeous when we sailed out this afternoon. After sailing for 40 minutes we spotted the first whale and in the same area we spotted at least 5-7 minke whales and one small pod of harbour porpoises. Some of the whales came very close and quite often we had two of them around us at the same time so it was difficult to decide where to look. Then a short stop at Akurey, the puffin island but unfortunately very few puffins at home this time. A very successful tour.

 

Tour at 10:00

Such a fantastic tour!! First we headed straight out into Faxaflói Bay to find ourselves in the middle of a large pod of White-beaked Dolphins (two scattered groups but at least 8-10 I the group we were with) then after watching them bow ride and roll 1 meter from our boat for a while they led us to an area were there were Minke Whales. Minke Whales everywhere, no matter where you looked there was a Minke. Some really far away some really close. A couple of times they surfaced just 20-30 meters from our boat. Whilst we were watching one Minke we also spotted a pod of Harbour Porpoises which also came 20 meters from us. If that wasn't enough we went to Lundey and didn't see that many Puffins but there was a seal. FANTASTIC TOUR!!

 

Tour at 09:00

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TOUR! After Puffin island it took ten minutes until we saw some splashes in the distance! White-beaked dolphins, and a big pod. 15 or more animals, jumping and swimming in perfect unison, staying close to us for some 20 minutes. While we were still looking at these cute, playful creatures we already saw Minke whales further out in the distance. As other whale-watching boats came rushing towards our position, we left and joined the Minke whale. It wasn't until long that 3 more Minkes showed up, really close, and some Porpoises surfaced at the same time. Beautiful sunshine and three out of four species in the Faxaflói bay made this a unique tour and left everybody (including the crew) with a broad smile on their faces.

Birds seen on todays tours; Puffins, Gannets, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Common Guillemots, Gulls, Kittiwakes, Arctic Skuas, Arctic Terns, Fulmars, Eider Ducks, Cormorants.