Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: we went out under darkening skies and rainy conditions and went straight out to where Hafsúlan had seen the Humpback Whale just an hour or two before. Unfortunately it had vanished into the blue sea and we did not find it. We continued searching despite the rainy conditions getting worse. We did see 2-3 Minke Whales but always in a distance, they did not show much of themselves at all and vanished very quickly. For about half of the trip, the surface of the sea was almost devoid of life apart from birds. We gave all our passengers complimentary tickets so that they can return to us anytime within the next two years.

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out into a beautifully calm evening with very good sighting conditions. After hearing about the tour at 14:00 we were not expecting to find all that much in the bay, but we were in for a surprise... A Humpback Whale-sized surprise! =)) As we followed this individual around we didn't have time to really look at the pod of 3 White-Beaked Dolphins that surfaced quite close to us before heading in a different direction. In the beginning the humpback made it a bit difficult for us to get the nice look at its fluke we had been waiting for, but later on we got multiple chances to take a look at the unique pattern on the underside of its fluke. It also surprised us quite a bit by surfacing right in front of the boat with one of its forceful blows once. After a short but unsuccessful search for the dolphins we had seen earlier it was time to head back and we enjoyed the nicer sides of the Icelandic weather again...

- Linda

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We had to search for a little bit longer this afternoon, but after about an hour we spotted 2 Minke whales that surfaced together. We only saw them from a distance as they surfaced 2-3 times but after that they seemed to disappear. We kept on searching and covered a very big area with out any sightings. As our time ran out our hope in spotting more whales did as well. We decided to give all of our passengers complementary tickets which are good for another whale watching tour, for free, in the next two years. We hope that they will come back on a trip with us and hopefully have more luck!This just shows us how fast wild life can change, hopefully the whales will be back for the next tours.

- Freydís Ósk

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We were extremely lucky with the weather on this tour, it was sunshine almost all the way! The wind was also weaker than expected and it did not take us too long to find our first Minke Whale. It was quite a shy individual though and so we decided to move on in search for something else. The next thing we found was a pod of 3 White-Beaked Dolphins. One of them had a very distinct dorsal fin - the tip hanging down on one side and what looked like a fairly fresh bite-wound below. We watched this group move around the boat and dove through the waves. But before we headed back we found 2 more minke whales, travelling together. One of them seemed quite a bit smaller than the other one, it was probably a juvenile individual. We watched them surface together quite a few times, but then it was time to leave them behind and enjoy some more sunshine on the sail back to the harbour.

- Linda

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The weather this morning was beautiful and after about 30 minutes sailing we spotted splashes in the distance. When we got closer we could see that the splashes were made by breaching White-beaked dolphins, and all in all there were probably around 10-15 individuals spreaded around the area. They moved very quickly and seemed to be in a lot of hurry, but we still managed to watch them for some time. After we headed further out we spotted 2-3 Minke whales. We got a good look at the animals but they all seemed to be quite elusive, maybe very busy feeding. The sun was shining as we headed back to the harbour after a good tour, hopefully we will also have some luck in the afternoon. - Freydís Ósk

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: When we left the harbour for our first tour today the bay greeted us with quite nice sighting conditions: not too much wind and a nice light cloud cover. And so we headed out and were soon busy trying to decide which of the 2-3 pods of White-Beaked Dolphins to watch. Overall, there must have been at least 15 individuals in the area - some of them close to us and others further away. But we clearly chose the right group to watch, as we were soon entertained by a very active baby dolphin and larger individuals leaping, breaching, slapping different body parts onto the water and surfing through our wake! As if that show had not been amazing enough we then found a Minke Whale a bit further along and got to enjoy another incredible show. This time it was the minke whale lunge-feeding at the surface. Not only did we get to see this individual racing through the waves, but it came out of the water far enough for us to get great looks at what was almost its whole body. The expanded ventral pleats along its underside had a bright pink colour and made this feeding animal look almost unreal. An amazing ending to an absolutely fantastic tour!!

- Linda

Birds seen on todays tours include: Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Black-Backed Gulls, Common Guillemots, Northern Gannets, Manx Shearwaters, Atlantic Puffins, Arctic Terns.