Thursday, 31 July 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: better conditions than today allowed us to take a somewhat different route out this evening. We sailed more directly out instead of going close to the shore. The midnight sun was stunning on this tour, the last midnight one of this summer, and we were followed by a number of Fulmars as we went out. We went to the north-west, then turned south and finally made our way slowly back to Reykjavik, all while scanning the water surface looking for whale activity. However, sadly our last midnight tour did not yield any whales or dolphins. All passengers were offered a complimentary return ticket that they can use for any of our whale-watching tours within the next two years.- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had calmed down a fair bit over the afternoon and the sun was still shining bright when we set sail, so to speak. We headed towards the same area, close to Akranes, where we had been successful earlier on this day. Luckily enough, a Minke Whale did show itself as soon as we came close to Akranes. We followed the individual around for a while. The wind made the blows of the whale seem larger than in previous tours. The suns glare however, made it sometimes challenging to keep track of the whale. It turned out that it was an individual that we had seen in june. The researchers explained that the whale has a very distinct nick at the base of the dorsal fin that made him distinguishable. It is called "Happy" and we were definitly happy to see this one. Overall, a nice tour due to the sun, the nice whale encounter and the brilliant view on Snæfellsjökull.

- Dominik Schmid

Tour at 14:00Report from Elding: we went to the same location as this morning as the strong wind would not allow us to venture further out into the bay. But this time luck was on our side. As we approached our sistership Hafsúlan, they informed us that while they only had one Minke Whale, it was an excellent one and very docile. We came in close when Hafsúlan left and saw that they had been correct for this whale was indeed an easy-going one. In its feeding effort, it approached the ship close from the back and even gave us what certainly looked like a lunge-feed, although we can't be sure as we had a rear-view of it doing so from a bit of a distance, however the result in the shape of spectacular splashes as it landed was truly something to see!

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was still sunny and a little windy when we left the harbour this afternoon. We decided to sail close to land were the wind was not as strong and the sea conditions better. We headed towards Akranes because we had been seeing Minke Whales there for the last few days. We sailed around in that area for few minutes until a Minke Whale turned up just in front of us. It surfaced few times very close to us and we could even hear it´s breath. We were really lucky that this Minke Whale was just traveled slowly in circles in the area so it was easy for us to follow it. The sailing back home was very enjoyable because of the summery weather.

Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: the wind had gone down a bit since yesterday but the same north-eastern direction was still on, ensuring a bit of a rocky outbound ride. We sailed close to land towards Akranes and searched there as our sistership Hafsúlan had been there and seen some whales. Given the number of Northern Gannets around, which were plunging down left and right for fish that they had spotted with their excellent eyesight from high above, we knew we were in a promising location. As yesterday, it was our eagle-eyed barperson Heiður that spotted the first blow. However, unfortunately the Minke Whales seemed to have decided to play a bit more difficult with us than they had with Hafsúlan for all we spotted on this tour, apart from the rich birdlife, was two or three further blows. As a result, we gave all the passengers a complimentary return ticket so that they can return with us on another whale-watching tour within the next two years.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Despite the perfect sunny conditions, the wind caused this trip to be a bit rocky, making the trip a little more adventurous one could say. While we were on the search for some whales, many Northern Fulmars were flying close to the vessel and some Northern Gannets were plunging deep down into the water. Suddenly, a large blow was seen only a 100 meter from the boat. We tried to track down the animal responsible for the blow, but because of the rough sea it turned out very difficult. Minutes later we were able to spot the Minke Whale more clearly. The whale submerged quickly though and often changed its direction. Nevertheless, the beautiful Snæfellsjökull was over towering the whole bay. The rough conditions and the unsteady behaviour of the whale made it a difficult, but equally exciting.

-Dominik Schmid

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