Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Tour at 20:30Report from Elding: This evening was calm although there were some clouds in the sky so we didn't have a perfect view over the landscape. We started the trip with a visit to one of the Puffin Island, Akurey and then we headed out. The sea was pretty calm and we saw a lot of bird species while sailing around but none of them seemed to be feeding and it looked like the food in the bay was limited according to our fish detector. We scanned a large area and saw around 4-5 Harbour Porpoises with a young (baby porpoise) with them. Although we searched for a long time we didn't find any whales tonight but the trip was enjoyable and Bjarni the musician entertained us on our way back to Reykjavík. We gave all of our passengers complementary tickets which allows them to come back for free in the next 2 years and we sure hope they will use them and hope that they will have better luck. This just shows how unpredictable wild life is and we hope that tomorrow the bay will be full of food and life.- Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan:The wind had picked up a little bit when we started the 5 o´clock tour this evening but the sea was still calm. Our first stop was Akurey, the Puffin Island where we met many Puffins at dinner time. Once we sailed further out we spotted the lovely White Beaked Dolphins. They were travelling very fast and circeling many times so I assume they were busy feeding. We left them to find some Minke Whales and it took us just a few minutes before we spotted the first Minke Whale. In total, we saw 3 Minke Whales on this tour, coming very close to the boat and in between we also saw some Harbour Porpoises but they were rather shy so we spent more time with the Minke Whales. Great end of this day.

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 14:00:

Report from Elding; As we headed out the fog had lifted and we headed straight out to look for some whales. We spotted some White-beaked Dolphins in the distance but as we got there, they were gone. But we headed on out and there we found many Minke Whales. They surfaced all around us and one even put it's belly up a few times while feeding at the surface! Such an amazing and rare sight which made a good tour even better. On our way back we went by Akurey where lots of puffins where sitting on the sea.

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Finally the fog had lifted and we had a much better sight than this morning. We decided to visit the puffins on the way back and headed straight out into Faxa Bay. It took us only about 20-30 minutes before we spotted the first Minke Whale. This creature was majestic, it was on our left side, few meters away from the boat very hungry chasing the food. It was on our left the whole time, twice lunge feeding and very relaxed with our presence. Passengers were totally happy to see this Minke so close feeding. We also saw another Minke on the right side of the boat and one further away. The huge amount of Puffins on Akurey on the way back was just the surplus of this tour!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 10:00:

Report from Skrúður: We headed out this morning and started our tour in Akurey. Since it was very foggy we couldn't see the island until we were right next to it. But it was very beautiful, lots of puffins disappearing and reappearing while flying in the fog. Then we headed out. We went straight to where Hafsúlan had seen some Minke Whales. Once there we stayed still, only seeing about 20 m away from the boat. But we hear the blow of a whale which we can't see so we head towards it. Soon we spot a Minke Whale very close to us. This Minke surfaced very often in the same area and we were able to see it many times and also one more Minke. A great skua was also chasing arctic terns (to catch the fish out of the arctic terns beak) right over our heads. For a while we turned off the engines and just enjoyed the sounds of the birds and the whales surfacing. An amazing tour!

-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir

Tour at 9:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning was a very foggy morning. When we headed out the sight was not the best so we decided to head straight out into the bay see if the fog would lift after some time but it didn´t. After a long time of searching in the bay, we spotted a Minke Whale right in front of the boat. In the end we had 4 Minke Whales in front of us very busy feeding with a lot of sea birds. We managed to stay for a while with them before we headed back towards Akurey, the Puffin Island. To see the "penguins of the north" was a succesfull ending of the day!

-Lisa Hofmann

Birds seen today includes: Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, Black Backed Seagull, Atlantik Puffin, Northern Gannet, Fulmar, Kittiwake. Common Guillemot, Black Guillemot.