Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsulan: In the afternoon, the weather was still just perfect with calm sea and very good vision and we were very happ to get a good view on the volcano Snæfellsjökull about 120 kilometer apart from Reykjavik in the end of Snæfellsnes peninsula. This time, we headed directly out towards the area where we had seen the Minke Whales this morning and we were very happy to spot a Minke Whale there before even arriving in about 1 kilometer distance. As we went closer where we had spotted it, the Minke Whale surfaced all in a sudden not far from our boat and everyone was very excited to watch this beautiful whale surfcing several times. When it arched its back and went for a deep dive, we headed a bit further, since our captain spotted some White-beaked Dolphins some hundred meters in front of our vessel Hafsulan. We spotted 2 groups with at least 4 individuals each and took the time to enjoy them coming pretty close to the boat from time to time. The cherry on the cake was one of them jumping about 6 times right next to our boat - a breathtaking moment that noone will hopefully ever forget! But the tour wasn't over yet and we almost could not believe our luck, when we spotted another Minke Whale on our way back to Reykjavik. However, before going to the harbour, we made a little excursion to Lundey, one of the puffin islands in front of Reykjavik, where we watched the Atlantic Puffin and many other sea birds including Eider Ducks, Black-backed Gulls and Cormorants - a perfect round-up of an amazing afternoon tour!

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsulan: When we started sailing from Reykjavik harbour today, the sky was blue and only a gentle breeze was blowing. Before heading further out, we decided to stop by Akurey island to hava a look at the Atlantic Puffins that had arrived about two weeks ago to have a closer look at these beautiful birds. Besides puffins, we also spotted other sea birds such as Eider Ducks, Cormorants, Black-backed Gulls and Brent Geese. After enjoying the birdlife of Akurey, we decided to head towards the area where we had last seen Minke Whales and Harbour Porpoises the day before. We were not disappointed, since it did not take us long to spot a Minke Whale very close by a flock of seabirds. We enjoyed it a lot, since the Minke came really close and we had a very good look at it. Also, some of our passengers spotted some Harbour Porpoises, but they were rather elusive and were only seen once. Still, we were very happy as at least two more Minke Whales showed up in the closer surrounding and everyone on board thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful experience and the amazing landscape of faxa bay.

Birds seen on today's tours: Atlantic Puffins, Cormorants, Northern Gannets, Fulmars, Eider Ducks, Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Arctic Terns

- Hendrik Schultz