Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was interchangeable throughout the tour: light wind, soft rain, sun shine in between, fog and rainbows - typical icelandic weather. After only 20 minutes we spotted a minke whale in the bay of Faxafloí. Our researcher identified the individual as 'Midi', a whale known for its small notch towards the tip of its dorsal fin. The whale surfaces calmly a couple of times, but then took off in a different direction and traveling quite fast. We searched the bay for more cetacean and found another minke whale towards the end of the tour. This individual came as close as 20 meters, but when it arched its back and went for a longer dive, we made for the harbour.

-Dominik Schmid

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: the sun was reaching out between the clouds this afternoon and the air was even getting calmer than it had been on the morning tour. After about an hour we spotted a group of 3 white-beaked dolphins traveling slowly around us, we lost them for a while but after only few minutes they came back up just in front of the boat. The dolphins were really calm and we could sometimes see them swimming under the water surface. A little further out on the bay we saw a much bigger species, a minke whale! We followed the minke whale for few minutes, first we got a quite good look at it but it was traveling fast so it was hard to keep up with it.

- Sigurlaug

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind came down even more and even the swell had eased. Throughout the tour the sun was piercing through the clouds randomly, but also fog came up suddenly and unpredictably. Our first pod of 5-9 white beaked dolphins were spotted early on in the tour. We followed the tightly packed pod around for a while before we decided to look for something bigger. Two more pods (each about 4-7 individuals strong) appeared during our search. On our way however, we watched a very interesting interaction between a shearwater and a puffin: the shearwater was trying to chase the puffin in order for it to drop the sandeel it just caught. Lastly, we were able to spot a blow and then the large black body with the triangular dorsal fin in the distance. The minke whale surfaced 3-4 times and then showed itself to be quite elusive and thus, we made for the harbour.

-Dominik Schmid

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was cloudy this morning but the air was very still so together it made the sea quite flat and very bright so it was not hard to spot the animals from a great distance. The first cetacean of the tour was a group of 3 white-beaked dolphins. After following these dolphins while they were milling around slowly in the same area we kept on going further out on the bay. It took us only 10-15 minutes to spot another species, a minke whale. It came up just in front of us, around 250 meters away. We watched this animal for some time but it was spending a long time under water so it was a little hard to get a good look at it. On the way back we saw another group of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins and then we got them closer to us so we could even see them swimming under the water surface.

- Sigurlaug

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather this morning was calm, but the swell made it a rocky ride. The sky was covered in clouds, which made it perfect conditions to spot the whales. Some 4-6 harbour porpoises were spotted intermittently when we headed out into the bay. Only minutes later however, a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins were playing in the waves in front of us. Upon approach some of the individuals in the group seperated from the rest and dove beneath the vessel, calmly surfacing next to it and in the front. One of the dolphins even leaped. Further out we then encountered a minke whale, who turned out to be 'Humpie', identified by its little stumpy dorsal fin. We had a couple of looks at this individual but headed out further still to discover 'peanut', a minke whale that we know quite well and which surfaced 5-6 times close by. Two more minke whales were spotted when we made for the harbour, one of which came as close as 20 minutes from the boat and finished off this morning adventure.

-Dominik Schmid

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