Friday, 16 June 2017

Text  by Manu Bassoi an Photo´s by Manu Bassoi and Megan Whittaker

Eyjafjördur today was fantastic with beautiful weather and flat seas. When we were looking out the whales in the morning tours, we spotted about six to eight humpbacks just ten minutes after leaving Akureyri. The animals were showing the flukes several times, and the pictures were marvellous with such amazing sea. The well-known humpbacks ´Tattoo´ and ´Dark Night´ were swimming together today. In the afternoon tour, there were many humpback whales in different sites, but all them in the same area just a few minutes after sailing north from Akureyri. A small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises also showed up but shy as they can sometimes be. During the evening tours the rain came to refresh us, but as the whales are not worried about been wet, they were all there again. We could enjoy a group of four humpbacks diving together with all the flukes "waving us" at the same time. An enjoyable and pleasant day. Other individuals seen today were ´Arnar´, ´Manu´, ´Mystery´, ´Fjall´, and a few others that are still to be matched. 

Bird´s seen on today´s tours include: Arctic terns. arctic skuas, fulmars, black-headed gulls, black-backed gulls, swans, greylag geese with goslings, eider ducks with ducklings. 

 

Thursday, 15 June 2016

Text and Pictures by Megan Whittaker

The clouds came in today and threatened rain but most of the day it kept dry but chilly. Everyone stayed warm in the warm overalls. It was easy to find the Eyjafjord humpbacks this morning, just by Hörgádalur was found at least 7 individuals, 3 pairs and one individual. Amongst the individuals we saw Tattoo, Arnar, Manu, Fjall and Mystery. They were all feeding and with the abundance of food around they obviously where having a good munch. They didn´t really move much from the area throughout the day, enjoying the food. It´s always amazing to see how these humpbacks interact with each other, on the end tour, Tattoo and Arnar were feeding and then Mystery came to join in and three of them were almost touching as they feed together. An amazing day!

Birds seen today included: Black headed gull, black-backed gull, common guillmot, red-breasted merganser, red throated diver, arctic terns, northern fulmars, northern gannets, arctic skuas, pomarine skua, great skua, greylag geese, eider ducks, cormorants.  

Wednesday, 14 June 2017

In the morning there was no wind, and the sea was amazingly flat. We sailed up to the north, and all onboard could appreciate the beautiful landscape of the Eyjafjördur. After spending some time searching, we finally found a humpback whale, which was showing its fluke many times for the enjoyment of all. We left this whale and could find more humpbacks with similar behaviour. It was a lovely morning as many passengers could spot the difference of the underneath colour patterns of the flukes, which we use to identify the animals individually. For Eyjafjördur we have already about 170 humpbacks identified. In the afternoon, Northern of Hjalteyri we met five humpbacks. There were a group of three and two animals, but they were leaving and getting together many times,  but at the end, just one whale called Karo started breaching time after time - no stopping! The whale was also raising its flipper out of the water and slapped many times.  No more words to describe today, just astounding!

Photographs and text by Manu Bassoi.

Tuesday, 13 June 2017

A thick layer of clouds replaced the blue sky today, but that doesn't mean we were out of luck!  On both tours today the sailing was easy with calm sea and weak winds. And with easy conditions come easy spotting! On both tours we witnessed 4 individuals of humpback whale. Rogue showed up again, and on the afternoon tour the whale treated us with some breaching actions! We also found again Tattoo, a resight from Faxafloi of last year. And we were also thrilled to meet two new individuals that need a new name, so we have exciting times ahead! As a sweet bonus, we also got to see a minke whale at the beginning of the 13:00 tour. Today was a good day!

Text by Guillaume Calcagni, pictures by Manu Bassoi and Guillaume Calcagni

Monday, 12 June 2017

Today was a historical day for us with the return of the great, the one and only ‘Dark Knight’, one of our most sighted individuals from last year. But let’s start from the beginning, we had a nice tour in the morning with 5-6 humpback whales surfacing very close to the boat in calm sea conditions under a clouded, but dry sky. In the afternoon we went out and pretty soon saw 3 blows of humpback whales in the distance. So we went there and observed them swimming very close to each other and could hear them communicate with very low growls which could even be felt as vibrations on our Rib boat. What an extraordinary experience that was topped when the group of 3 was joined by a 4th whale. It turned out to be our beloved Dark Knight from last year and we were very happy to see him or her again. Overall we saw a total of 10-12 Eyjafjördur humpbacks. For the passengers it was a great day and for the crew a historical one due to the return of the Dark Knight.

Pictures and text by Babsi Neubarth

Sunday, 11 June 2017

The weather was cold and overcast, though we were very excited to get out on the water to watch our majestic humpback whales. As we travelled north, a blow was seen, and our first humpback was sighted. The whale was swimming smoothly but not showing its fluke. Therefore we decided to continue searching for other whales further north the fjord. Soon another blow could be spotted, and we saw our second humpback whale.  The cetacean was more active and also showing its fluke many times, which was very appreciated by the passengers onboard. After a time the captain decided to sail southwards, and we were very lucky again to meet two humpbacks. This time was even better as the individuals came swimming towards us while the vessel was stopped. What a delightful moment.
In the afternoon our vessel Homasol joined the Seafarer Celebration Day in Iceland - Sjomannadagurinn. Congratulations all Icelandic Seafarers! Even the whales seemed to celebrate with many breaches on our afternoon tour, stunning pictures were guaranteed.

Photographs by Babsi and Manu and text by Manu Bassoi.

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Blue sky and glittering mountains in the sun were the stunning backdrop of our tours today. The morning tour was a real treat with humpback whales around us, not much wind and lovely passengers on the boat. In the afternoon the wind had freshened up a bit so that there was some movement on our boat Holmasol and we could feel a slight chill, luckily the humpbacks made absolutely up for that. We saw about 5 whales in the afternoon, one of them being a well-known individual from Faxafloi called ‘Tattoo’. It is always so exciting to welcome a familiar fluke from Reykjavik here in Akureyri. Once again a very successful day here in Eyjafjördur.

Pictures and Text by Babsi Neubarth

Friday, 9 June 2017

Conditions were just perfect today in the morning: flat seas and fantastic visibility. A large blow was then seen further out and as we sailed north, a humpback whale. The whale was very calm and only resting on the surface. The captain decided to continue sailing north, and more three humpbacks were spotted in different places. This time the whales were more active, diving and showing the flukes. Moreover, in the way back, watching our last humpback whale, what a surprised when the animal just started waiving its pectoral flipper! A whale wave surely is something special and we truly enjoyed this moment. At the way back many seabirds were seen: arctic terns, eider ducks, herring gulls, black-headed gulls, northern fulmars, arctic skua, and kittiwakes.

Pictures and text by Manu Bassoi.

Thursday, 8 June 2017

Eyjafjördur today was overcast, bit cold, but flat seas! We only have to sail to Hjaltery to find humpback whales. When we were looking out on the morning tour, we spotted about six to eight humpbacks. They were serene and swam slowly, and the pictures were amazing with flat seas.  In the afternoon tour, there were four humpback whales in different sites. By the same token, one of the whales decided to check out the vessel's bow closely and showed its fluke just in front of the passengers. Everybody was just amazed by this imminent hello! Furthermore, just beside of Hjaltery seemed that there was a seabird party, with many arctic terns, gulls, and kittiwakes. A very pleasant day with the Eyjafjördur whales and seabirds.

Text by Manu Bassoi and pictures by Babsi Neubarth. 

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Strong northerly wind was responsible for quite a chilly day in the fjord and some swells to face the further we would go out into direction of the open ocean. Nevertheless we went out in the morning and in the afternoon and surely the humpback whales did not disappoint. Skittles, Rogue, Karo and Mariposa were the ones we got to see up close and could stay with for quite some time. Especially Karo decided to spend most of its time in sheltered waters which we of course really welcomed because it kept us out of the cold wind. Humpback whales are absolutely graceful and impressive when they are sort of surfing the waves before taking a deep breath to go for a deeper dive which left our passengers and us very happy on both tours . Once again a successful day here in Eyjafjördur.

Text and Pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

Three tours, three different experiences for us and our guests today. In the morning we saw plenty of whales, resting and surfacing right next to the boat, in the afternoon the humpback whales were a bit more elusive, but still, we had an excellent tour. The evening tour as it turned out should top everything that we had witnessed over the day and maybe even over the last weeks. Humpback whales a plenty were busy bubble net feeding for over two hours. First, we could always see the water surface bubbling in bright turquoise and then one, two and on some occasions even three wide open jaws coming up. Breathtaking for everyone on board and it got even better when one whale appeared centimetres literarily in front of us, surfacing slowly as if it was checking our boat out. What an incredible and stunning day today.

Pictures by Babsi Neubarth and Manu Basssoi and text by Babsi Neubarth.

Monday, 5 June 2017

Today the weather kept changing as time passed by, but what remained untouched was the presence of many humpbacks in the fjord! Even though in the afternoon the wind picked up, a careful and patient approach allowed us to get close encounters with wildlife. We evengot to witness some feeding action! Adding to the excitement, there was a small humpback that we don't know yet very close to the harbour, and also a minke whale. Of our regulars, we saw today Arnar, Rogue, Sai, Gemini and Lumière. Again, it was a nice day spent among friends!

Pictures by Guillaume Calcagni and Manu Bassoi, text by Guillaume Calcagni

Sunday, 4 June 2017

Today we could enjoy Eyjafjördur at its best, no to only a little wind, partially cloudy sky and magnificent feeding humpback whales. In the morning we saw four different humpbacks displaying a variety of behaviors ranging from being elusive over resting to intense feeding. Sai, Gemini, Jackson and Arnar stayed with us so that we could make sure all of our guests had a close encounter. In the afternoon it was feeding frenzy time with Jackson and Gemini. The food must have been especially good today since they were coming just right next to our boat, while we had the engines off, and fed. We got to enjoy this amazing display for over an hour before we had to go back. Fantastic feeding adventures today in the fjord.

Pictures and text by Babsi Neubarth

Saturday, 3 June 2017

Today in the morning was a fantastic day in Eyjafjördur. The sun was shining, and the sea was completely flat.  As soon as we left Akureyri, we found a minke whale. This individual seemed just to take a ramble around the harbour. Not far from this whale we had another minke whale: a very nice starter for the tour. We left the minkes towards north to search for humpback whales, and there they were! Just southern off Hjalteyri we stopped for the first humpback. What a surprise when the animal just started breaching in front of us - it was incredible. We got an excellent picture of the fluke from this "jumping whale", and looking at our catalogue of flukes we could find that this individual is a well know humpback called "Jackson". There were more two humpback whales in the area, which we could also appreciate. In the afternoon minke and the humpback whales were near the same region that we found them in the morning. A very enjoyable day with the Eyjafjördur humpbacks and minkes, again!

Pictures and text by Manu Bassoi.

Friday, 2 June 2017

Today the weather was pretty rainy and gloomy, but the Eyjafjordur humpbacks made sure to make up for it! Although they were further away than recently, and also spending long time going for dives so less cooperative for the whale watching, we had the pleasure of noticing new faces. We resighted few of our regulars such as Fridolin, Rogue or Lumière, but we did not recognized few of the tail flukes today so that will require further investigation. Exciting times! But not as exciting as the behaviours displayed by our humpies today. This morning we had the chance to see three individuals feeding close to the sea surface, and using bubbles to herd the fish together. We could see them coming at the sea surface with the mouth full of water and the throat skin dramatically expanded! And in the afternoon, we hit the jackpot and witnessed a double breaching! Two humpbacks swimming together successively jumped out of the water... What a sight! We recommend our readers to check out our facebook page to check out the video from one of our passenger. The evening tour was much calmer but we still go to see them fluking, which is always captivating. Today was wet but incredibly lucky day!

Pictures and text by Guillaume Calcagni 

Thursday, 1 June 2017

The weather forecast for whole Iceland was not too promising today, but luckily the surrounding mountains around the fjord offered us enough shelter from the wind so that we could go out on two tours. On each tour it rained here and there, but never really strong and we could enjoy 4 to 5 humpback whales in the morning and in the afternoon. Compared to yesterday the whales had move further out and we had to sail almost till Hauganes to find our first blows. A few individuals were busy feeding and we had a really good time watching them coming up frequently very close to the boat. The whole day Jackson, Sai and Karo, three of our regulars at the moment, seemed to collaborate in order to herd fish together. A very interesting and equally entertaining thing to observe. We returned to the harbour a bit wet, but happy.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Overcast and raining in the morning, but no wind today in Eyjafjördur. The flat seas were superb for sailing. We sailed towards Hjalteyri again and spotted two groups of humpbacks, one of three whales and the second group of two animals. They were in the same area since yesterday, but today the whales were more active and we could whiteness many pretty flukes. However, the best moment in the morning was when we were heading back to Akureyri, and just close to the city we could see two minke whales. One minke was breaching, and the second whale was slowly swimming as we passed by the harbour.  In the afternoon we had an extraordinary moment with harbour porpoises coming close to the vessel's bow, the front part of the boat, when it was stopped (engines off) while we were watching and admiring a humpback whale nearby. The porpoises also went close to the whale. We sure were happy to see it! Again a very fun day with the Eyjafjördur humpbacks, minkes, and harbour porpoises.

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

A strong northern wind and overcast during all day in the Eyjafjördur. Despite the unfortunate weather conditions, we could encounter two species of cetaceans today, a minke whale and five humpbacks. Luckily whales do not seem to be impressed by the rough winds, and just leaving Akureyri we could see the minke whale and many arctic terns around feeding near the surface. Afterwards, we searched the location near Hjalteyri for some time, and two humpbacks were then spotted. In the beginning, we saw two animals in different areas. The whales were going down for a long time; therefore we had to be more patient today. We could see more three animals at a distance, but we decided to stay with the whales close to Hjalteyri due to weather conditions. Furthermore, fascinating seabirds were in the Eyjafjördur as weel, such as eider ducks, kittiwakes, northern fulmars, and skuas.

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.

Monday, 29 May 2017

Today we had a lovely time with our Eyjafjord humpbacks on two tours. In the morning we could enjoy mirror like sea on our RIB boat Solfar II and in the afternoon we were glad to have shelter from the rain on our cozy boat Skrudur. Easterly winds made sailing really pleasant today and overall we saw 5 humpback whales on the morning tour and 4 in the afternoon. Jackson, Manu, Rogue and Sai were the individuals we encountered many times. Especially Rogue really showed us what ‘it’ got. It breached right in front of the boat to our all surprise and performed a wonderful tail slap. After that excitement we loved to enjoy some ‘quite time’ with Sai and Manu which seemed to be just resting only meters away from the boat, while our engines were off. Great nature and great whales surely made it a great day here in Eyjafjördur.

Pictures and text by Babsi Neubarth

Sunday, 28 May 2017

The day started raining in the morning, but the sea was perfectly flat. We sailed towards the north, and just close to Hjalteyri two blows appeared on the horizon. They were humpback whales. We stayed a while with these two individuals and after we continued sailing north. After this encounter, close to Haugane, we spotted three humpback whales that have been seen in the fjord since last week. It was a wonderful meeting as the whales decided to come closer to the vessel while we were stopped just waiting for their next appearance. In the afternoon, the sun decided to show off.  What a great sail as we could meet two minke whales. The first appeared just fifteen minutes after leaving Akureyri and the second whale just jumped several times at high speed towards Hjalteyri. We also met two humpbacks in the same area, and more three humpback whales just close to Haugane. Harbour porpoises were also present in all tours today. A stunning day with many humpback and minke whales.

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.