Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Tour at 17:00

Tour unfortunetly cancelled due to strong winds out in the bay.

Tour at 13:00

(Report from Elding) The wind had picked up alot on this tour and the boat rocked quite a bit which was a lot of fun but had to be careful on the way back because you might of got wet from the seaspray so everyone was warned to move inside the warmer saloon. The seabirds and whales loved it too as the swells (rolling waves that don´t break) allowed them to surf too conserve energy whilst feeding or just for fun and the wind gave the birds a strong air current to glide on. Must of seen at least 6-10 Minkes on this tour and three surfaced at once just meters from each other, two going one way the third going the other. We also saw them doing the bubble feeding behaviour, where they blow air out of their blowholes under water which is meant to confuse the fish making them easier to catch. Gannets were also plunge diving just a meter or two from the boat and kleptoparasitic Skuas stealing fish. Great afternoon.

Tour at 09:00

(Report from Elding) Beautiful weather and fantastic whales. Blue skies, relatively calm seas and the visability was pretty good too eventhough it was hard to see the Reykjanes and Snæfellsness Peninsulas due to the mist. We started at Akurey Island to see the Puffins at home and it was nice to see them flying around and swimming on the waters surface close by. It then took us about 40-50 minutes to get to a very productive area with loads seabirds and Minke Whale. At least 10 - 15 Minkes were in this area. Some surfacing in the distance but most just a couple of meters from the boat. It was fantastic. Two Minkes even surfaced at the same time next to each other which is quite rare for this species. Great morning to be out in Faxaflói Bay.

Birds seen on todays tour include: Seagulls, Fulmars, Puffins, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Brent Geese, Greylag Geese, Eider Ducks, Arctic Terns and Arctic Skua´s.

Photos taken from the 0900 tour by Megan Whittaker