Wednsday, 29 August 2012

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had picked up a bit from earlier today as we sailed out on the bay. The first hour we saw nothing at all. But then all of a sudden a harbour porpoise was seen very close to the boat, but probably only by the guide. This harbour porpoise did not show itself again and we headed further out. On our way we saw a couple of gannets flying in our opposite direction but unfortunately no whales. After we turned around the sailing was much smoother and we had the wind blowing from behind instead of into our faces. Finally a few passengers spotted a minke whale which was then seen once more. After that we had no more luck despite looking thoroughly. Upon return we gave out complimentary tickets due to bad sightings and hope to see these passengers again.

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding. It was lovely sailing out in the bay this afternoon but after 10-15 minutes the bitterly winds came in and everyone put on our lovely free overalls which were definately needed on this tour. We were hoping that the Minke Whales were still close to land as they had been over the last couple of days but unfortunately they must of moved off to fishier seas. We did find one Minke Whale quite far out and it was spotted three times by the guide however it was quite far away and it was moving really fast so it was almost impossible to show the passangers. Quite a disappointing tour in relation to whale sighting for the passangers that didn´t see them and for the crew which were unable to show them but its nature and without some disappointment we wouldn´t appreciate them when they do show up.

Tour 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed on out the mirror calm sea in very little wind but the wind did pick up a little since this is Iceland so the weather never stays the same in more than ten minutes! After a short sail we spotted a small pod of Harbour Porpoises that we stayed with for a little while. While we were watching the Porpoises we spotted a Minke Whale close by so we sailed to the whale to get a better look. This was a curious Minke that came close to the boat and surfaced very often close by. After spending a good time with this Minke we sailed on out Faxaflói, unfortunately we did not spot anything else on this tour but we were very glad with this nice meeting with bough Minke and Harbour Porpoises!

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: optimism from the tours of previous days which have given us whales very close to the harbour did not let us down for we saw a nice, calm Minke Whale just off Kjalarnes. They sure seem to like that area these days. It was just playing around there and there may even have been another smaller one. Then after about twenty minutes of watching it we headed further out into the bay after hearing that our sistership Hafsúlan had found a nice pod of dolphins a bit further out. We saw a few Harbour Porpoises (3-5) for a moment but had no time to spend on them, out of fear that we might then lose the dolphins. Soon we found a wonderful, playful and active pod of White-beaked Dolphins (15-20) and spent good thirty minutes or so with them. They were definetly feeding, swimming in all directions and just an amazing sight, one of the best dolphin pods that this guide has

Tour 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out of the old harbour of Reykjavík in a beautiful weather this morning that was a nice change since yesterday! After a short sail out Faxaflói we spotted the first Minke Whale of the tour. This turned out to be one very eventful whale watching tour and in hole we saw 4-6 Minke Whales, some very close by the boat and others further away but all of them in the same area! After this lovely encounter with the Minkes we sailed on to see what elsewhere in the bay to day. After some time we spotted a flock of diving Gannets and in the ocean underneath were a big pod of White Beaked Dolphins, it was at least 30 individuals! These were very playful dolphins coming very close to the boat and we could see their hole bodies under the water and there were at least one calf with them! In the end it was time to go back to Reykjavík after such a good tour!

Birds seen on todays tours include;Gannets, Black-backed Gulls, Fulmars, Razorbill, Migrating Geese, cormorants, arctic terns.