Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This afternoon we headed out in even calmer conditions. Less wind and higher temperatures made this whale watching trip even more enjoyable. Initially, we waited for quite some time until we got sight of a Minke Whale heading towards Akranes. The individual was traveling quite fast and, thus we soon lost track of the skittish whale. Later on we noticed a pod of White-beaked Dolphins, which was encircling another whale watching vessel. After we approached the 7-9 individuals they were diving curiously between both vessels. After an extended period with many close up encounters we left the pod to investigate some Gannets feeding further west of Reykjavik. Near the feeding spectical, Harbour Porpoises started showing up, scattered all around the vessel. Not long after we noticed several Minke Whales surfacing near the gannet flock, which completed the feeding bonanza. However, the Minke Whales soon disappeared to all sides, maybe the food started to move further down the water column. We soon headed back towards the harbour, but were still occasionally were accompanied by some elusive Harbour Porpoises.

- Megan and Dominik

Tour 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning we had beautiful blue skies but a very chilly wind from the East. Nice warm sailing offshore but everyone warmed up downstairs in our saloon on the way back. About 30 minutes into the tour we got word from another whale watching vessel about a big blow they saw, excitement rose and peaked when a Humpback Whale breached full body out of the water. Incredible! After which he/she became difficult to approach surfacing very fast and traveling long distances beneath the waters surface. After a while we decided to leave the whale in peace and head further offshore. small pods of 3-5 Harbour Porpoises were showing up intermittently throughout the tour. Later a Minke Whale surfaced and we saw it was ´Humpie´ one of our favourites. After 2-3 surfaces humpie left and we found another in the distance. This one we didn´t recognise but it surfaced many times and very close too. All in all a wonderful morning.

- Megan and Dominik

Birds seen on todays tour include: Northern Gannets, Atlantic Puffins, Northern Fulmars, Arctic Skua, Common Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Brent Geese, Great Skua, Eider Ducks, Cormorants, Black-backed Gulls.