Wednesday, 01 August 2012

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: We sailed out in beautiful weather and looking forward to the sunset and whales. We started at Akurey to see the Puffins, there were few around but most must be out at sea catching fish. We then headed to the area out sister vessel Hafsúlan found a very good Minke Whale and we actually saw a blow (exhaled breath from a whale) in the distance but unfortunately we only saw it once. We spent the rest of the tour enjoying the amazing sun set over Snæfellsjökull and the nearly full moon over Reykjanes but found no whales. The passengers did enjoy the live music being played at the end of the tour which added something a little bit extra but sad faces showed that there were no whales. Its nature though and for those of you that know what wildlife is like you know how quickly things can change. Complimentary tickets were given to get everyone to come back and hopefully have better results.

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Our evening tour was simply perfect. The first whale that we saw was a minke whale. He surfaced several times but than he disappeared. We did not have to search for long until we found a group of white-beaked dolphins. They travelled very fast and it was a little bit difficult to follow them. After a while we decided to leave them but again after only 5 minutes we found a second (!) group of white-beaked dolphins. Those guys were very interested in us, they came even closer, jumped out of the water and we had a lot of fun with them. Finally we also saw a second minke whale at our end of the tour and also this whale came very close to the boat and we enjoyed him for a long time. All in all it was a wonderful tour with many impressive sightings.

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Well if i thought it couldn´t get any better, i was wrong. no dolphins on this tour but the Minke Whales were fantastic. Again there were at least 3 Minke Whales in the area. One in particular was rolling and surfacing just 20-30 meters from the boat. You could hear the sound of the blow and see the white patches on the flippers of the minkes. Even about 3 or 4 Harbour Porpoises joined in with the feeding. There was also an amazing air battle between an Arctic Skua and a Kittiwake that kept flying infront and less than a meter from the boat. The whole tour was just one thing after another. The perfect day to be out at sea.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was a perfect combination of good weather and great whales on our midday tour. It was very warm and the sea was very calm. We found in one area 3 minke whales. They were buzy with feeding and they stayed for a very long time close to our boat. We stayed almost the whole time with these minke whales because it was simply great to watch them. Sometimes they were close under the surface of the water, we saw some bubbles and also sea birds were feeding in the same area. Everybody enjoyed this tour very much.

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: What a morning to go whale watching. The perfect start to the first day of August 2012. Not only did we get beautiful weather, calm seas and blue skies but the whales were also incredible. We sailed for about 40 minutes to get to where the seas seemed to be teaming with wildlife. We started with a pod of about 10-15 White-beaked Dolphins which were busy chasing fish before they took a break and came under and around the boat before heading off again to get their catch. After a while and prying ourselves away from the dolphins we came to an area with at least 3 Minke Whales that looked also to be feeding as Gannets plunge into the water around them.

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning's tour was excellent! We started off in the Lundey where there were lots of cute puffins and other seabirds. After having spent a while at the island, we headed out on the bay and it did not take us long to spot a minke whale. This minke was not surfacing very frequently so we continued to spot some white beaked dolphins. Those were seemingly very interested in our company and after swimming along our boat for minutes they started slowing down and getting closer and closer. We shut down the engines and that's when two of the dolphins swam under the boat several times and surfaced right next to us. They were so close you could almost touch them! Since it was very calm today, we could observe them swimming underneath the boat. Awesome experience! We decided to leave the dolphins in peace after they headed further and on our way back we saw about 5 minke whales, some of which surfaced frequently and very close to the boat. Brilliant!

Birds seen on todays tours include; Puffins, Guillemots, Gannets, Fulmars, Arctic Skues, Eider Ducks, Manx Shearwaters, Arctic Terns, Black-backed Gulls and other seagulls.

Pictures taken on the 10:00 tour by Megan and Imma