Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The tour started out with almost no wind, moderate amount of sunshine and calm sea - excellent whale watching weather. Initially, we had to search for quite some time before we spotted a blow in the distance. This blow belonged to a minke whale that surfaced next to us just minutes after. At first we thought it was only one individual, but over the course of several minutes it turned out that there were at least two, maybe three minke whales around us. We followed two minke whales that popped up next to each other several times. Both individuals gave us great opportunities to look at their dorsal fin and black back. Then we made for a different area and found a flock of feeding northern gannets plunging down to catch fish. Suddently a minke whale shot up inmidst of these birds. But something else was lurking in the waves beneath these feeding birds. When we were getting closer we found out that there was a basking shark feeding together with the birds and whale. The individual was about 2-3 meters and thus 3-4 years of age. Now, we were able to observe the minke whale and the basking shark at the same time. Such a great and special ending to this day.

-Dominik Schmid

Tour at 14:00Report from Elding: we sailed out towards the other whale-watching boats amidst radio messages from them to the effect that they had a few minke whales around them. However, they were apparently being elusive and unpredictable. Once we arrived, we went first towards another boat that said they had one but we did not see it. Then we went towards where Hafsúlan had just been with one or two difficult whales but again they played the same game and we did not see any. Our last resort was to sail across the area called 'Marfló' on the way back to Reykjavik. This is often a fruitful area but this time we did not find anything apart from 1 minke whale which we managed to see only three or four times briefly. As our return time was due, we could not search more but as compensation to those that had not seen the animal, we offered complimentary tickets that can be used for any of our whale-watching trips within the next two years.- Baldur Thorvaldsson

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind was getting less and less throughout the tour and the sun was lurking out between the clouds. On our way into the bay of Faxafloí we spotted a harbour porpoise. We waited for several minutes but the animal did not surface again and therefore we left for the inner part of the bay. Much birdlife was visibile, which increased our hopes for a great whale encounter. Suddently, a minke whale surfaced as close as 50 meters from us and moved in closer with every surface. The minke whale was later identified as 'Base SQR' and has been seen ever since 2008. The whale surfaced often and changed its direction constantly, thus we assume it was in the pursuit of some food. Later, when we left this minke whale we found 2 other minke whales and each time close to a flock of birds. However, the individuals were more elusive than the first minke whale. In summary, we had a fantastic tour and found an old friend.

-Dominik Schmid

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The weather forecast was saying northwesterly but we found southeasterly wind, so it was warmer than expected as we went first with the wind and it was not the cold wind from the arctic. There was some swell but not to bad so that the chances were okay to spot animals but it took us a long time until we finally found our first minke whale which surfaced just for one breathing sequence and disappeared out of sight. Our time, which we could spent in Faxaflói, slowly run out because we did one of the biggest searching circles we used to do. So we were already heading back towards Reykjavik when we came across a flock ofnorthern gannets which started feeding and among them were lesser black-backed gulls and puffins to be watched. This was a spectacle to look at as the white (adults) and brownish birds (juvenile) of these gannets were diving torpedo like to catch fish but it came even better when suddenly another minke emerged. This one was less elusive and gave us more chances to observe it. So in the end we enjoyed more than a diverse bird watching tour.

- Carine Zimmermann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather had calmed down a lot since the day before and thus we ended up having a comfortable sail and even a bit of sun on the way. At first, we spotted a pod of 4-7 harbour porpoises with at least one juvenile, which was porpoising once. The animals were calmly surfacing as close by as 20 meters from the boat. Later on a spotted a pod of white-beaked dolphins which were quite speedy and elusive, thus very difficult to follow. The dolphins were seen sporadically throughout the period of 20 minutes, but because these dolphins were racing and seemingly shying away from the boat it was a tough encounter. Before we headed back we were able to spot a flock of feeding birds, but sadly enough no other cetacean showed up during the rest of the tour. At the end, we gave our passengers complimentary tickets so they could come back for another whale watching tour.

-Dominik Schmid

Birds seen on today's tours include: Northern gannets, fulmars, lesser black-backed gulls, arctic terns, great skuas, manx shearwaters, eider ducks, puffins, cormorant, common guillemots, turnstone and whimbrels.