Thursday, 22 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out this evening in slightly calmer weather than this afternoon and again we went south towards where we had been seeing the whales earlier today. Our search began very well as pretty soon we had spotted some harbor porpoises as they swam alongside us, surfacing very close to us before disappearing. A good start and on we sailed hoping to find some of the porpoises larger cousins. We went to the spot where they had been all day and from there set the course further out into the bay. But despite our best efforts we found no sign of the larger whales this time around. We can only guess as to the cause but most likely the fish that the whales eat had moved on and the whales with them. As we always do when we see so little we gave all of our passengers complimentary tickets that are valid for two years. We hope to see them again on a better day!

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: In the afternoon, the wind was still blowing strong and we once more decided to head out from Hafnarfjörður. We tried hard and stopped by at each diving Northern Gannet we could find. We even spotted the blow of a Minke Whale twice, but never found it again as it was very hard to keep track in the rough seas. We saw some Fulmars and some of us even a Puffin sitting on the water, but sadly, the whales remained elusive this afternoon. We gave out complementary tickets to all our brave sailors, which are valid for two years and hope to sea you again on a calmer day in Faxa bay with hopefully some whales around us next time!

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: With the weather much the same as this morning we sailed out of Reykjavik harbor and around Akurey towards the south. We began by heading in the same direction we went at nine o'clock hoping that the whales we spotted then would still be there. Luckily we were not disapointed and soon after we had reached the area a Minke whale was spotted. This individual was seen a few more times and then at least three or four more minke showed up to the party. We got a very good look at one as it surface very fast bringing a lot of its body out of the water and another one as it surfaced right next to us. All in all the tour was much better than we had dared to hope for and we were very pleased as we headed back to Reykjavik.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: This morning, the wind was quite strong and the sky was covered in clouds. We decided to start our journey from Hafnarfjörður, another harbour about 15 minutes carride from Reykjavik. We directly sailed towards where one of our whale watching boat had seen Minke Whales earlier in the morning. It took us a bit of searching, but then we spotted the dorsal fin of a Minke Whale breaking through the surface. It was quite hard to follow and we lost it after a few surfacings. As we continued we spotted about two more individuals, but both of them were somewhat hard to follow. However, we were happy to see them in the rough seas and also enjoyed watching some seabirds inlcuding the impressive Northern Gannets, Northern Fulmars and Razorbills flying close to the boat and resting on the watersurface. All in all it was kind of a difficult but successful tour.

- Hendrik Schultz

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafúslan: We sailed out today onto Faxa bay in a strong southerly gale and cloudy skies. Despite that the seas were relatively calm and we decided to head south toward Hafnarfjörður. We had seen whales there on our five o´clock tour yesterday and we thought it a good place to start our search. After about half an hour of sailing we got there and very soon spotted our first cetacean of the tour, a Minke whale! It surfaced a few times in front of us and then went down for a deeper dive. Not long after that we spotted at least two other minkes and were able to stay with the for a while and have a good look at them. A good tour and we sailed back to Reykjavik happy.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Birds seen on todays tours included: Northern gannets, Fulmars, Razorbills, Atlantic Puffins, Lesser black-backed Gull, Eider Ducks