Thursday, 28 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Finally the cloud cover broke up more so that we could enjoy the sunshine on us, but also on certain parts of our surroundings like the mountain chain Esja or the capital Reykjavik. We found 2 minke whales which we could not identify, one closer and one a bit further on the other side. In the end we saw both appearing alternately on two different places in a very short time interval so it was impossible to be the same. To not disturb these whales we continued on where we saw two pods of white-beaked dolphins first we watched one group and then the other, both of approximately 6 individuals so around 12 in total. We could count the dolphins very well because when they were travelling they were surfacing together in tight groups. It was a very beautiful sight watching their dark silhouettes in the Sun's glare and as well shimmering in the golden light on their wet skin showing their black and white striped pattern across their body. Then we left them in peace and spotted our third cetacean species with a harbour porpoise coming up several times before we went back towards Reykjavik.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The conditions were great this afternoon for whale watching, it was getting warmer and the sun was peeking out between the clouds and it was easy to spot animals from great distance because the sea was so flat and bright. We headed out to the grounds were we had seen the whales on the morning tour, we slowed down and started to scan the area very well. It didn’t take us a long time to spot the first minke whale of the tour with many to come! We followed it for some time but it was spending a long time under the water surface between surfacing so when we saw another minke whale not so far from us we decided to try to get a better look at that one instead. That minke whale came for few times very close to us so we could easily hear the sound that they make when they breathe! We soon realized there was another minke whale close by us that we could also enjoy and we stayed with it until we had to turn back to the harbor. On the way back we saw two other minke whales so in total we had five beautiful minke whales in this one tour!

- Sigurlaug

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Similar conditions as before greeted us and from time to time the sea shimmered golden in the light. It took as a bit longer to find the cetaceans but in the end we had durable and good sightings. We started with 5 harbour porpoises which were probably feeding as we saw them splashing, milling, leaping and even porpoising, at times 5 were to be seen at once. Then we observed a minke whale named "Base sqn" for a long time while he was milling and feeding, rising sometimes steep by closing its mouth while coming up. As it was rolling under a flock of resting lesser black-backed gulls, gannets and puffins it made them fly away. Then as they sat down it happened later again that the birds were reacting at the movement of the whale. Then we watched a second minke which was the same as in the morning with the big nick which was showing it baleen plates for a short moment as he came up before it closed its mouth. An unusual sight we could enjoy.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: we had a virtually still sea and a minke whale surfacing shortly into the tour. This one was heading south towards the Reykjanes Peninsula but as it had gone down for a deep dive, another one appeared some distance away on the other side of the boat, leading us to believe that there were in fact 2 around us. However, as the fishfinder showed no fish, both were most likely just travelling through. We then went further off towards Hafsúlan to have a look at the dolphins and minke whales they had, but we did not get that far as before we came across an area with a number of feeding seabirds and one delightful minke whale amidst the feasting. Feeding behaviour, now as always, the top thing to see.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Little wind and no swell were the dominant sea conditions of today, that resulted in great spotting conditions. The clouds were covering the sky but the sunlight came partly through so that it lit up Snæfellsjökull which was a very nice sight. Under these circumstances we could see every irregularity at the water surface and that was how we saw our first minke whale already in the distance. As we went towards it a harbour porpoise appeared several times at the surface or maybe there was more than one but we just saw one at a time once in a while. So as our eyes were following the movement of this small cetacean suddenly a minke whale popped up quite close to us in front of the boat. We spent some time with this whale which had a big nick at the base of the dorsal but is not a familiar one we know from the photo-id catalog. As we saw a whale as well a bit further away not from the perfect angle we are not 100% sure how many of these minkes we watched in total but as we definitely spotted one more as we left the minke area to see the dolphins the number went up to 3 maybe 4 whales. In the distance we saw splashes of leaping and breaching dolphins so we headed for our third species. But before we got there we found another widespread pod of white beaked-dolphins we could observe perfectly well while they were leaping frequently even came close to interact like bow riding for a while. There were a lot of juveniles in this group and in total there were probably more than 15 dolphins all around.

- Carine Zimmermann

Birds seen on today's tours include: Northern gannets, fulmars, lesser black-backed gulls, arctic skuas, arctic terns, manx shearwaters, eider ducks, puffins, cormorant and common guillemots.