Thursday, 18 September 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: As we left the harbour this afternoon we were greeted by almost perfect conditions for sighting cetaceans. There was light rain pretty much throughout the tour, but the wind had died down almost completely and the ocean surface was of a perfect light grey colour. It did not take very long until our encounter with the first minke whale. It surfaced very regularly but after a while we decided to move on and search for something else to watch. We spotted another two minke whales but were distracted by a pod of around 5 incredibly active harbour porpoises. They were leaping and porpoising very close to our boat and showed no sign of their usual shyness. Afterwards we scanned the area for the minke whales we had seen previously but did not find them again. So we started heading back and found another two pods of harbour porpoises on the way. One of them must have consisted of 15-20 individuals which split up into two smaller pods after a while. This time one of them was even slapping its tail fin on the water while the others were leaping and racing through the waves. A highly successful tour all around!!

- Linda

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out into a fairly calm bay with some light rain and only a little bit of wind this morning. We headed further South than usual to check that area for some previously reported whales, but did not find anything other than different bird species. So we sailed further North and were soon watching a pod of white-beaked dolphins (around 4-6) - and a minke whale on our other side. We even got to look at the dolphins under water as they were swimming closely around our boat. Heading further out later on in the tour we spotted some splashes - another pod of (5-7) white-beaked dolphins! Just as we left them we saw two dolphins jumping out of the water in the distance. They stopped their show before we got close, though, so we decided to look for something else. And indeed we saw another pod of 3 dolphins and a minke whale in the distance. We were, however, interrupted by a minke even closer to us and stopped to take another look at this species before heading back. On the way back a few of our most enduring passengers who were still outside on the top deck also saw a pod of 4-6 harbour porpoises.

- Linda

Birds seen on today´s tour include: Eider Ducks, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Glaucus Gull, Fulmars, Northern Gannets, Common Guillemots and a Cormorant.