Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: It looked rather cloudy as we headed out this evening and very soon during our trip we had a few minutes of refreshing rain before the sky cleared up a little bit and we managed to see some sun glares in the distance. We sailed for over two hours with out any sightings accept from a few sea birds flying around, but all of a sudden 5-7 White-beaked dolphins popped up right in front of the boat! We managed to get a good look at them as they surfaced all together around the boat and swam right up to us so we could see their whole body under the surface. Unfortunately the dolphins only stayed with us for a few minutes before they disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. As we headed back to the harbour, Bjarni the musician sang for us and kept us entertained.Nature can be quite unpredictable and surprising, although the sightings were short this evening the tour was very enjoyable. -Freydis Ósk

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was getting colder, windier but at least it didn’t rain on us. We spotted 3 Minke Whales on this tour. The first one was very elusive and very hard to follow. Next Minke whale was a little bit friendlier, it surfaced more frequent and came closer to us but still in at least 200 meters away from the boat. The third Minke Whale was as elusive as the first one so we could not get a good look at it. These animals are of course wild and like with everything in nature they are unpredictable and there for nothing can be guaranteed. Although we saw some whales we wanted our guests to get another chance to see them because this tour was so calm so all the passengers could get a complimentary ticket.

- Sigurlaug

Tour at 14:00Report from Elding: we had a look at 1-2 Minke Whales before our attention turned towards 2-4 White-beaked Dolphins that seemed to be doing a mix of feeding and travelling. Just as in the morning, we had a lunge-feeding Minke but unfortunately the stunt was only done once. Finally, as we had started the journey back home, we were interupted by a small pod of dolphins (possibly the same ones as before or at least belonging to another pod) that insisted on saying goodbye and so they did in the shape of several great leaps and close-ups!

- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 13:00Report from Hafsúlan: as we sailed out into a calm afternoon there was still not a lot of wind, but the air was quite chilly. Quite a few of our passengers made use of the free overalls we offer on board and were well prepared for the exciting afternoon that lay ahead. As we were waiting for our first Minke Whale to come back to the surface we spotted something that looked a lot like the dorsal fin of a Basking Shark. And heading in its direction our guess proved to be true... We got some amazing looks at this large shark as it slowly moved towards us and right alongside our boat before diving down for a short while. After watching it for two more bouts at the surface we headed further in search of some other species. The minkes proved to be fairly shy on this tour (altogether we saw at least 4 individuals) but we did spot a pod of White-Beaked Dolphins! And once again they delivered a spectacular show... One individual breached several times - and very close to our boat, too! Others were porpoising through the waves and surfacing right next to the boat. It was amazing to also see them move around under water. Additionally, the very pleasant sea and weather conditions made this a very special tour indeed!

- LindaTour at 10:00Report from Elding: our first wildlife apart from birds were a few Harbour Porpoises that we passed on our way out towards Hafsúlan but we did not stop for them as they tend to be elusive and avoid boats. We started the whale experience with 2 Minke Whales in some distance that may or may not have been a mother and a semi-adult calf for they would somehow stay rather close to each other. Finally we went out to a different area where there were probably 5-6 further Minke Whales, including one that provided us with the tour's main show in the shape of a lunge-feed, straight forward with the mouth open, ready to gulp a mass of prey, presumably Lesser Sandeel, it is safe to say that it was great to see!- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was cloudy but not windy or raining on this Wednesday morning. The tour started quite slowly. The captain had noticed a Minke Whale on our way out the bay but it seemed very hard to follow it so we kept on going further out in hope to see another cetacean. We then spotted another Minke Whale that was a little bit friendlier, surfacing more frequently so we were able to get a better look at that one but after few minutes we lost it. After we had seen one other Minke Whale that was also hard to follow we came to a very active area. There the captain could detect a lot of fish with the fish finder and that was probably the reason for how lively it was there. So many marine birds of many species flew around and we could spot at least 3 Minke whales. Usually it is easier to watch whales when they are feeding because than they stay for a longer time in the same area. It is always nice to get the best sighting in the end of the tour.

- Sigurlaug

Birds seen on todays tour include: Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Common Guillemots, Manx Shearwater, Northern Gannets, Black-backed gulls, Arctic Skuas, Arctic Terns, Storm Petrels.