Tuesday, 15 June 2010

Tour at 20:30

This was the first Midnight Whale Watching of the season and we were really excited about the tour! We headed out in great weather, practically no wind and the sea flat even though there was a bit of a swell. We started by heading out to the puffin island Akurey where there were a few puffins this evening. Some were on the water and a few flying around but most of them were probably in their holes or out on the ocean feeding. We then headed to Faxaflói and the weather was just beautiful, the sun started to come out and made the bay alive with colours. We soon spotted a small group of harbour porpoises and they were quite curious about us. In the same area we saw one Minke whale but it only came up once and then disappeared. We then decided to sail a little further out and look for something else. After sailing for about an hour without seeing anything but birds we started heading back and soon found another pod of harbour porpoises and they were absolutely great to watch! They were really curious about the boat and came so close that we could even see them under the surface! When heading towards the harbour again we suddenly spotted a Minke whale close to us and it was not just one, but two, a mother and calf! An excellent ending to our tour and we sailed back with a beautiful sunset in our back and rain in front of us. A very successful and nice first midnight tour.

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out straight into Faxaflói bay. At the sea were many Puffins sitting around and we got a good look at them. We saw also many Fulmars, they circled  around the boat. We spotted a Minke Whale and tried to follow him. The Minke whale went for a deeper dive and we almost thought that we lost him but when we spotted him again. We managed to follow him quite a while. But he was so elusive that we went to see something else. On our way we spotted some Harbour Porpoises but they didn’t stay with us for long and our time was almost up so we headed to visit the Puffin island Akurey and after that we came pleased back to the harbour.

 

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: We started our tour by  visiting  Akurey, one of the Puffin islands. A lot of Puffins were sitting on the water and many were flying around the island. After this nice visit the went straight out into Faxaflói bay to look for some whales. Some passengers saw some White beaked Dolphins surfacing. We went to check it out and we were astonished. It was a huge group of White beaked dolphins surfacing all around the boat. When we spotted a Minke Whale. It surfaced a couple of times and we headed towards him. But he seemed quite elusive. From far we saw the Dolphins jumping and we went to see it but came too late. They were still many surfacing but they stopped jumping. Our time was up so quickly so we had to go back to the harbour. It was a great tour and it was nice to see so many Dolphins again after we didn’t saw them so long.

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out to Lundey in the beginning of the tour since the tide was more convenient at that time. There were not too many puffins out on the island but we still managed to see a few both on the island and swimming on the sea. We then headed out to Faxaflói bay and there was a bit of a swell so the boat was moving a little more than we expected. It was not too much though and our passengers fought their sea sickness bravely. All thought of sea sickness disappeared when we spotted some white beaked dolphins after around 40 minutes of sailing. First we saw around three individuals but when we headed out a little further we saw a huge pod of them! It is hard to say for sure how many there were but there were at least 25-30 individuals and they put up a really nice show for us, jumping out of the water and sometimes showing their whole body. While watching the dolphins we also saw a Minke whale but only in the distance and not too well. When we finally left the dolphins we saw another Minke whale but it only came up twice and then disappeared. A successful tour!

 

Tour at 09:00

We started the tour today with a stop in Akurey, the Island was filled with Puffins both on the Island and around it. We then headed out to check on the whales. Just when we got to the main whale watching area we found our first Minke Whale. Then soon we spotted another one. There were quite many Arctic Terns feeding around the second Minke Whale and when we got to that area there were actually a few more there. All in all we spotted about 5 different Minke Whales. After staying in that area for a while we decided to head to another area and see if we could find something Dolphins but unfortunately we didn't find them during this tour.