Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Tour at 20:30

Report from Hafsúlan: The sea conditions had really calmed down on this tour and it was beautiful to see all the clouds turning pick and purple as the sun sets. We started at Lundey (puffin island), wasn´t so many puffins at home, so it wasn´t surprising that we saw loads out at sea. The Minke Whales were quite difficult this evening, we saw two from a distance but only once each. It wasn´t until later on in the tour when a passenger spotted a blow, we got to see the Minke Whale belonging to this blow a few times but a lot of patience was needed as it went for long dives. We ended this tour with the talented acoustics of Bjarni Baldvinsson.

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had gotten a bit calmer as we headed out this afternoon. We started at Akurey the puffin island where there were many puffins, fulmars, kittiwakes, seagulls and arctic terns. After that we sailed out onto the bay and found the first Minke whale surprisingly early. It surfaced a few times for everyone to see relatively close to the boat until at one point it went for a deep dive and disappeared. So we went a bit further, found another one and then eventually that one went down as well and didn't show again. This was basically what the tour was like, we would find one minke whale, it would surface a few times and then dive down and disappear. When it started raining we had run out of time so we headed back and on the way to the harbour we found our last minke whale. There were lots of feeding birds on the bay today, among them northern gannets and the whales appeared to be feeding as well so there must have been plenty of food. All in all it was a fun tour with many short but close sightings.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We sailed out with dark threatening skies and started our adventure at Akurey puffin island and again we were not disappointed, thousands paddling and  on the water flying around the island we then headed offshore and some found a Minke Whale. We must have seen at least 3 different Minke Whales on our tour and they surfaced less than 50 meters on a couple of occasions. It was the White-beaked Dolphins, 5-7 individuals that were playing under and around the boat, so much fun to watch. Wild animals interacting with because they wanted too, enjoying our company as we enjoyed theirs. If that was not enough we also got to see 3-4 Harbour Porpoises also surfacing just a couple of meters from the boat, they were our 3rd pod of porpoises (3-4 animals in each pod) we got to see on this tour. Incredible tour.

-Megan Whittaker

Tour at 13:00Report from Hafsúlan: we headed out from the harbour in Reykjavík and started the tour with a visit to Akurey, the Puffin Island where we saw the Atlantic Puffins (along with other birds of course) the Island was crowded with life and we got a good look at the animals. As we sailed further out searching for whales we saw some Northern Gannets diving down and feeding, which is always amazing to see! very soon we saw 2-3 Harbour Porpoises which surfaced around three times close to the boat, of course these animals are very small and hard to spot, but hopefully some of the passengers saw them. After searching for almost 2 hours with out any sightings we were almost losing hope when a pod of White-beaked Dolphins jumped up in front of the boat, what a perfect timing. There were a few pod's of animals there and maybe 10-15 dolphins. We watched them surface and jump around and we were amazed as they swam under the boat and surfaced just beside us. As we were watching the White-beaked Dolphins we saw 3-4 Minke Whales surfacing, but each one only surfaced one time and not all of the passengers saw them, but at least we know they are in the area!Great tour in icelandic adventure weather with the White-beaked dolphins. Always fun seeing how unpredictable nature is.- Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: A little bit windy on this tour but this weather seems to be enjoyed by the marine animals as they love to glide on the air currents or surf the swells. It is however a little bit challenging for the crew as sometimes the whales are hidden by the waves and they surface faster, we like a challange but this tour did prove quite difficult. We saw many blows (exhaled breath that looks like geysirs coming up from the sea) on this tour but the whales themselves. It wasn't until near the end of the tour when we found a big flock of Gannets plunging into the ocean for food, we were enjoying this when suddenly a Minke Whale came out of nowhere and surfaced just 20 meters in front of our boat and then a few times next to us but a bit further away. We ended the tour at Akurey to see the puffins and there were thousands to see. Slow start but a fantastic finish.

-Megan Whittaker

Tour at 9:00Report from Hafsúlan: This morning the weather seemed good as we were in the harbor, but when we got further out there were some waves and wind. But we didn't let that ruin our hopes! We sailed to the areas we have been visiting for the last days because of the good sightings there but as we got there we searched for a long time with out any luck! But as we searched we had some great views of the Northern Gannets diving down and feeding and they glided very close to the boat, beautiful birds. So although we did see a lot of birds feeding, specially the Gannets which meant there was some food in the area, we didn't see any whales. Maybe they were busy feeding or just elusive this tour. But that's Wild live, we cant control it. We gave all of our passengers complementary tickets which are good for 2 years, and hope that we will see them again in one of our tours very soon !  - Arnór TumiBirds seen on todays tour's include: Nothern Gannets, Eider-ducks, Atlantic Puffins, Fulmars, Lesser-black backed Gulls, Black-backed Gulls, Atlantic Skua, Manx Shearwater, Artic Tern, Common Guillemot, Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull.

The pictures taken of the close up White-beaked Dolphins and a couple of others were kindly given to us by Natalia Yaroshinskaya from Russia, passengers from out 1400 tour.