Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This time around, we started the tour from Keflavík. Our passengers were driven from the old harbour in Reykjavík to Keflavík harbour and we headed out on the bay, aiming to end the tour in Reykjavík. The sailing was pleasant as we were sailing downwind almost the whole time but the visibility was really bad and it was quite rainy. We did spot a minke whale after about an hour. It was busy feeding and spending lots of time under water but when it came up, we got some very nice looks at it. After we left them minke whale, we spotted a pod of three white-beaked dolphins. They did not stay around for long, but yet long enough for us to see them well and even hear them on one occasion. After the dolphins dove down, we continued our journey to Reykjavík and unfortunately, nothing was spotted on the way there. Again, more sightings would have been appreciated but this was what nature offered us this afternoon on the Faxaflói bay. Hopefully, it will get more lively in the coming days.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: This afternoon we sailed southwards and thus had to fight with some wind before we had a pleasant sail back to the harbour. Not only the weather was challenging, but so was the spotting. After we had sailed for quite a while we noticed a smell in the air that reminded us off minke whale breath. But despite an elongated search we weren´t able to find a whale yet. Some northern gannets however were passing us during our search and even atlantic puffins were detected. Suddenly, a single harbour porpoise surfaced next to the boat, but as it is the habit of these small cetacean, it didn´t emerge again. Harbour porpoises are known to be quite elusive. Thus, at the end of the tour we had to return home without the hoped for whale encounter. All passenger got complimentary tickets and he hope to see them all again and this time with better luck.

-Dominik Schmid

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: On this tour, we decided to head towards Keflavík along the south coast into a complete different area from this morning. After two hours, nothing had yet been seen but we did not give up and headed even further. Finally, after a long search, a minke whale was spotted coming up only once in front of the boat and then disappearing. we continued and after another ten minutes, a minke whale came up again, this time it surfaced a few times before it dove down so that we could actually get a proper look at it before it disappeared again. Indeed, we would have liked to have some more sightings but that was not in our control and we ended the tour in Keflavík since we would have needed another hour and a half to sail to Reykjavík. Buses awaited out passengers in Keflavík and drove them to Reykjavík along the Reykjanes peninsula.

-Arnór Tumi

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: There were some challenging conditions ahead of us this morning with some rain, wind and swell. Luckily none of it was very high and only while we were sailing into the swell did it ever feel rough, when we eventually turned back to the city we had quite a comfortable journey. We made our way to the areas where we had been successful in previous days and did some searching but there were no whales or dolphins to be seen here, we did come across a group of northern gannets feeding and diving into the sea which may have suggested fish for the whales but there were mammals joining them. Throughout the tour we were able to see lots of atlantic puffins flying across the sea even though this is the end of the puffin season in Iceland. But even though there was birdlife in the bay there were no whales or dolphins to be seen unfortunately, therefore at the end of the tour we gave out complimentary tickets in the hopes that our passengers could try again at some point within two years.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was grey and rainy as we left the Reykjavík harbour this morning, however, the wind was not as strong as forecast. We sailed through various areas, found a few birds, mostly seagulls, fulmars and gannets, but no whales. At one point, two harbour porpoises surfaced quite close to us about three of four times but they disappeared shortly after and few people managed to see them. So after a disappointing tour this morning, we gave out complimentary tickets to our passengers and hope to see them and the whales soon again.

-Arnór Tumi

Birds seen on today's tours include: Northern gannets, fulmars, glaucous gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, eider ducks, puffins, storm petrels, black guillemots, cormorants and common guillemots