Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

It was a beautiful evening when we sailed out into Faxa Bay. We spotted a pod of White Beaked Dolphins very close to the harbour and spent some time with them before we sailed on to see a Minke Whale. After a while of searching we saw a Minke Whale in front of us. It surfaced a couple of times very close to us and we could even hear its breath. On the way back we spotted another pod of White Beaked Dolphins and they came really close to the boat so we could see their bodies. It was an amazing evening light, perfect end of the day!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 14:00

Report fom Elding: It was still a beautilful day as we headed out on the bay in the afternoon. The sea was calm so the conditions were excellent for spotting cetaceans. Soon, we heard reports from the other whale watching boats that they had seen dolphins. We approached the area and found three pods of white-beaked dolphins. One of them approached us, and some of the animals came so close that you could almost touch them! What an amzing start of the tour! We decided to leave the dolphins behind as the started swimming away and headed further out. We found two minke whales that appeared to be resting and not surfacing very frequently. We turned around and on the way back we found a thrid minke whale feeding close to shore. Awesome end of an already great tour. We stopped by at the puffin island on the way to the harbour and there were only very few puffins left. And thus ended another sunny day in the Faxaflói bay.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out in a bright sunny day and it took us only 30 minutes before we spotted a Minke Whale in front of us. We saw it a few times but than decided to head on and we found an amazing pod of White Beaked Dolphins jumping out of the water right in front of us. They were chasing fish and really going crazy jumping many times right next to the boat, swimming under the boat, it was a dolphin party. It is a hunting technique, they scare and stun the fish so the rest of the group can feed on the fish. On the way back we spotted another Minke Whale close to the lighthouse Grótta. This individual was actively feeding and surfacing very close to the boat it was so pretty with the lighthouse in the background. Excellent day!!

-Lisa Hofmann

Report from Elding: The sun was shining as we sailed out on a calm Faxaflói bay this morning. We had heard reports of sightings from Hafsúlan, our sister vessel as well as other whale watching boats. We headed towards them but as we arrived in the area, we had to look for a while before spotting the first minke whales. After the first ones had been spotted it was an easy and effortless job. There were around 5 to 8 minke whales surfacing around us, at different distances. Some came very close so that you could hear them but others were coming up in the distance. The conditions were excellent today so since they were there, you really couldn't miss them. After we had spent a good amount of time with the minke whales, white-beaked dolphins were spotted in the distance. We went to take a look at them and saw some beautiful breaches before we had to head back to the harbour. On the way back, we stopped shortly at Engey, the puffin island where there were still puffins around although the puffin season is coming to an end now. Great conditions and all around an awesome tour!

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was a wonderful sunny day in Reykjavík and we were excited to see some whales. At first we saw a pod of White Beaked Dolphins and they were so much fun, swimming under the boat so we could see their bodies. We stayed with them for a long time as they were very willing to show themselves. When we finally left, we found a Minke Whale not far away and we got a few good looks at this one but it was a bit elusive and diving very long in between. It was still an amazing tour with 2 different species in a perfect sunny sea condition.

-Lisa Hofmann

Birds seen on today's tours include: Fulmars, puffins, common guillemots, lesser black backed gulls, eider ducks