Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: This tour started very well as we left the harbour in bright sun and warm temperatures. We could enjoy the weather for a little while before we spotted our first pod of white-beaked dolphins. Between 5 and 8 of those animals were surfacing 200 m away from the boat. Without being elusive, they were a little bit shy, sometime disappearing for a short period of time before surfacing further away. We could have nice first looks but we decided to nor force our presence on them and leave them alone. So we kept on sailing hoping to find other species. Luckily we we met soon after that a second even larger pod (7-10) of white-beaked dolphins ! They were definitely less shy than the first pod, but also moving faster. We could have some close looks, and they even swam under the boat, allowing us to follow them underwater from the surface. During our following of this group, we noticed splashes in the distance. What might have been the first pod of white-beaked dolphins, or a third new one, was making huge splashes in the distance. Those dolphins were leaping and body-slamming ! While we were getting closer we could see them jumping out of the water and spinning their body before landing and making huge splashes. They calmed down when we got closer, but we could sight them a couple of last time before we went out further offshore to try to find other species. Our effort remained vain as nothing else was to be spotted. Like this morning tour, the dolphins kept all the glory and displayed an incredible show !

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: A cold morning with eastern winds and a cloudy sky. The journey out in Faxaflói was really good when we had the wind in our backs. It didn't take long until a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins was found. A little bit difficult to get good look at them in the beginning but we stayed with them and towards the end we managed to have them close to the boat a couple of times. When we continued further out another pod of dolphins joined us. An incredible pod of 5-7 dolphins started jumping around us and it was amazing to see a whole pod jumping out of the water together! In an area with a lot of fishing boats we managed to get two short views of a minke whale, sadly only the guide and a few passengers manage to see the animal before it disappeared in the swells. We headed back with the pod of jumping dolphins as the tour highlight, not an everyday sighting!

- Marcus "Golden Hand" Bergström

Birds seen on todays tour includes: gannets, fulmars, black-headed gulls, greater black-backed gulls, glaucous gulls, eider ducks and kittiwakes.