26th of October 2022
Today we are running tours at 1100 and 1400!
Species seen today: Humpback Whales, Minke Whales and White-beaked Dolphins.
11:00 - There was some strong wind from the east between the hours of 10 - 11am this morning so we moved our tour forward an hour. This provided perfect timing to have very good conditions indeed, almost to good to believe this was Autumn in Iceland. We were told by the Captain of Elding´s Classic tour that they had a wonderful time with a trio of humpback whales, yes our beloved Neila and Mariupol where back together with a friend, a friend Neila was with yesterday. They were amazing, super relaxed and we were able to stay with them for a while until a pod of white-beaked dolphins caught our attention to the south. We checked them out quickly before heading back to port. A pod of about 6 individuals that looks to be copulating. So we didn´t want to interupt. Close to the harbour we got a glimpse of a 3-4 harbour porpoises to round off our trip nicely.
Crew - Captain Megan and Guide Miquel
14:00 - We thought this morning was great but this afternoon was a once in a life time experince. The wind had calmed down even further creating the perfect conditions. We could see a lot of the boats around the humpback whales so we decided to search in other areas first before heading over to them. We didn´t have to sail for too long before we found a pod of 3-5 harbour porpoises, which were shy at first and soon became relaxed with our presence. We just searched for about 30mins without any luck and so we made our way to the humpbacks. The trio (Neila, Mariupol and a friend) were still together and we stayed a distance at first but got closer as other boats left. Soon we were alone and slowly travelling with them. We were in nuetral at one point waiting for them to return to the surface, when they did they were about 40m away and coming in our direction. We turned of the engines quickly and they continued to come to us and once they were about 5m away, Neila starting rolling and flipper slapping just a meter or so from us. She was in a real sociable mood, wanting to play with both us and the other two whales with her. We really couldn´t get a better encounter then that, so when they were far enough away we turned on the engines and headed home, stopping with a very nice pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins on the way. We are all still amazed as we write this diary. Just incredible.
Crew - Captain Megan and Guide Miquel
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