Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Tour status: RUNNING

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was windier on this tour than in the morning but the sea conditions were about the same. We decided to sail to the area where we had seen the minke on the way back on the morning tour. close to that area we saw a blow about 2 kilometers away. When we got closer we saw this was a juvenile humpback whale. It was traveling slowly further out on the bay and did not change directions often and for that reason it was easy to follow it. While watching this small humpback we spotted another blow in distance and went to check it out. This was a minke whale that was a bit more tricky to follow. The minke seemed to be heading in the same direction as the humpback so after a while we had them on each side of the boat. Then another blow was seen in a distance and while heading to there we came across 6 white beaked dolphins  and right next to them we saw seal. Right after we started following the dolphins we spotted a larger humpback going for a dive and its fluke went high up in the air. Unfortunately we didnt have time to try to follow the larger humpback before we had to sail back to land. This was a great day out on see and clearly a lot of life in the bay.  

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was stunning in the harbour, sunny and we had an amazing view over the Reykjavík area when we sailed out. It was not windy and no breaking waves but our boat rocked up and down on the long swells. After about an hour we go a call from another boat that they had seen a minke whale. We were close by and soon go a look at this animal. It always surfaced 4-5 times and was relatively easy to follow. After everyone had gotten a good look at the minke we decided to keep on going and soon found our second species, white beaked dolphins! a pod of 6 dolphins were milling around and it was easy to photograph them while they surfaced slowly around us. While watching the dolphins we noticed 4-5 harbour porpoises close by. On our way back to land we saw 3-4 dolphins and a minke, we were not sure if this was the same minke as we saw in the morning.

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, long tailed ducks, Iceland gull, herring gull, black guillemot, razorbill and eider duck.

Today we are departing from Reykjavík's Old Harbour at 9am and 1pm. We are expecting mild South-Easterly winds in the morning and might anticipate some slight wind increase in the afternoon. Chances are we might experience some swells on the tour.