Category: whale diaries

17/3/2014 – After a stormy weekend, which saw no tours as a result, we wanted to make this a grand day and so we went out on both boats. Brimrún scouted to the east and Láki to the west. However, Láki could barely get out of Grundarfjörður due to the swell and Brimrún had a long tour so we have seen better days. Both boats had brief encounters with White-beaked Dolphins but they were hard to follow due to the swell. So not the best of days, but with what we do being such a passion for us at Láki Tours, the effort made and time spent today to give people what they had come here for was definitely worth it.

14/3/14 We had to cancel the morning tour due to bad visibility caused by snowstorm but then had a very good tour with three Orcas, seemingly two fully grown males and one female, seen off Mount Eyrarfjall. They seemed to have a destination in mind and kept on going there but in a relaxed and relatively easy going manner, swimming at 4-5 miles, so it was easy to sail at a leisurely speed some distance away and allow our passengers to photograph them, some of whom had come with us to see Orcas in order to be able to take it off their bucket list. After a while we decided to leave them alone and check out Melrakkaey Island. Due to the calm water and almost windless day, we could get very close and it is evident that spring is in the air on the island, judging by the increasing number of birds preparing to nest. Next month the Puffins should return and then spring will offically have entered. Then once we were inside Grundarfjörður, we realised where the Orca trio had been heading as we spotted them on our way to port!  Baldur Guide

12/3/2014 – We will remember this day as one that ended as brilliantly as it had started anxiously. Having not been able to go out on Monday and not seen any Orcas yesterday, we wanted to make this a beyond great day and so before we went out, Captain Gísli had asked nearby fishing boats to alert him if they would see whales. Our friend Cathy from Discover the World was also nice enough to go and scout the sea from land. But by the time we went out on the 10:00 tour, we had had no news. We started by heading to the east and look quickly for dolphins inside Kolgrafarfjörður but there were none and so we turned back to the west and searched there for a while. Then luck struck after about an hour and a half. The captain on the local fishing vessel M/S Haukaberg called Gísli to inform him that he had seen Orcas! We went on full speed towards that spot on Brimrún and saw them, two males and a female. What a great sighting! Even better, one of them turned out to be ‘Humpy’, a male with a deformed forehead that hasn’t been seen here since at least mid-January. As we have a group of people from Discover the World that hadn’t managed to see any whales yesterday, we knew we had to let them know and so Gísli called land to notify them. The group was quickly gathered and went out on our other boat Láki while we spent some good time with the trio in order not to lose them before Láki would arrive. But in the end we didn’t have to wait for Láki as they were struck by an even stronger lightning of luck just inside Grundarfjörður, that struck in the shape of a large pod of Orcas! So we could leave ours and go to theirs. After some weeks of seeing perhaps 15 Orcas max, and having to look for them sometimes far from land, it was a sheer thrill to have as many as ~30 of them almost right on our doorstep! They’re invited to return every single day hereafter and we do hope they will accept the invitation.
Baldur Guide

6/3/14 Two rather different tours today showed how changing and differently challenging nature can be within a span of only two to three hours. On the morning tour we came across two male Orcas only about fifteen minutes from the harbour and spent good time with them as they went about their business, seemingly leisurely foraging. When we were just about to leave them, a female appeared but disappeared soon. So back we went content but the second tour was very different. We came across some from the research team on a zodiac as they were heading into Grundarfjörður. They told us that they had been following a pod as they left Kolgrafarfjörður, which had been heading north-west when they had left them. So we went in that direction but despite the dozens of eyes scanning the horizon, we could not find them. All we came across were a few White-beaked Dolphins but they stopped by for less than a minute and then they were gone, all this while the wind was on the increase and the visibility worsening. Oh well, at least the morning was very good!

5/3/14  We had one tour today and it was different from all others we have had this season. On several others we have started by scouting a bit to the west before heading to the east towards Kolgrafarfjörður but recently the fjord has not been providing us, Orca-wise,  as it used to so we decided to ignore it altogether today and put all our money on heading west. Visibility was very poor when we left the harbour but got better as we were out of Grundarfjörður and so we were fortunately able to spot a pod of several dozen dolphins eastbound at a fast rate of knots. We spent a bit of time with them but decided to give them a break after about 15 minutes, particularly as among them was a young calf. Off we went in search of Orcas and after some scouting, Captain Gísli got a call from a local fishing boat captain, informing him that he had seen a pod of Orcas off Rif. We sped towards that location but before we got there, we ran into a lone bull that we yet lost almost straight away due to worsening visibility. It had been heading east so we went in its trail but he was impossible to spot. However, luck hadn‘t abandoned us totally for in the end we came upon some old friends, the pod of 15 that hadn‘t been seen for about a week. There were at least 12 of them and split up over some area. As they were eastbound, we thought it would be an ideal way to finish the tour to let them lead us back home. In the end it was hard to leave them but all good things must come to an end and after a 51/2 hour tour, it was time to return to port, just as exhausted as we were satisfied.  Baldur Guide

26/2/14 One tour today inside a windy Grundarfjörður. White-beaked Dolphins made a sudden and short appearance but that was it and they were difficult to follow because of the waves.

25/2/2014 The morning tour was like no other! Just before the presentation was to start for passengers going on Brimrún at 10:00, we gathered from the crew on Láki, which had gone out an hour before, that there were Orcas almost next to the harbour! So we decided to give PowerPoint a break and go out as quickly as possible in case our black & white friends had only wanted to drop by briefly. Out we went and had a thoroughly enjoyable morning with this pod of 9-12 as they scouted Grundarfjörður, no doubt checking its Herring status with their echolocation ability. While the wind had gone up in the afternoon, we were still able to do a bit of scouting on our own and while there were no Orcas (most likely they were over in Kolgrafarfjörður but we could not get there because of the eastern wind) we did enjoy the company of some White-beaked Dolphins for a while.

24/2/14 We knew after seeing nothing yesterday that today could only get better and it did! Most of the morning tour was uneventful, though the 2-3 Grey Seals on Melrakkaey Island were nice to watch, but luck struck for real on the way back to harbour when a dorsal fin caught our attention. It turned out to be that of a White-beaked Dolphin and it wasn’t alone. The dolphins kept us company by bowriding for a while but then we spotted a seagull feeding frenzy towards the harbour and went there. This turned out to be a wise thing to do as not only were there gulls present but also some more dolphins. We found that the reason for the frenzy was a shoal of a fish that may have been stray Capelin; at least it was too small to be Herring and did not look like it. Most of the Capelin has not yet reached us but it is south and west of Snæfellsnes Peninsula at the moment and we hope it will find its way to our neck of the woods as there is every chance that they will bring with them some feasting Humpback Whales. At any rate, it was awesome to observe this feeding frenzy and it did not ruin the experience that the dolphins had a very young calf that came close to us on several occasions. It was a wonderful end to the tour. On the afternoon tour we knew that we would most likely be restricted to Grundarfjörður due to the wind outside. Our scouts had also told us that there were a number of Orcas over in Kolgrafarfjörður so we were not too hopeful that there might also be some here. Hence we decided that we should emphasize trying to locate the dolphins again. They had gone, though, but possibly for a very pleasant reason, that of the presence of two Orcas, a male and female, not far from Grundarfjörður. We were thrilled and this shows you that anything can happen in whale-watching. Whatever the reason was that caused them to want to be here on their own (romance?) and away from their pod, we thank them with all our hearts!

Fjord of Plenty

24/02/2014: Our bus tour is called “Fjord of Plenty” for a reason! Today we felt the abundance of wildlife in every corner. Not only did we spot a lot of
white-tailed eagles, grey and (jumping) common seals, eider ducks and white-beaked dolphins – in addition, there was a group of about eight killer whales inside the fjord and we could get a good look at them from a distance!
Marie (Tour Guide)

22/2/14  We managed to have two tours today despite the north-eastern and eastern wind that has been troubling us for the past days. We knew there would be almost no chance of getting over to Kolgrafafjörður but inside Grundarfjörður and at least try to venture outside would be fine and of course we have often had whales there. So off we went on the first tour and searched as far out as we dared. There was no luck at first but at the mouth of the fjord we got a call from Filipa, the head Orca researcher. She and her team had been looking out for Orcas from their base on land and spotted a pod inside Grundarfjörður that was heading out. So we turned around and put on full speed into the fjord and towards land while Julie, one of their team who had joined us on Brimrún, had Filipa on the phone giving us directions towards the pod and then conveyed her messages to our very own Captain Gísli. Locating the Orca pod was not easy, they appeared and disappeared in turn, but we did find them and managed to give the passengers what they had come for, which was wonderful, given that we have not been able to go out to sea in two days. Unfortunately we were not as lucky on the second tour as the whales had left. However, a young Common Seal, which appears to be a resident of Melrakkaey Island as it is often seen there, made our tour in turn.

18/2/14 Our whale-watching began even before we left the harbour as Captain Skarphéðinn spotted 3 Orcas from the pier as we were preparing for departure at 9 in the morning! So when the time came to actually go out, we thought it would be almost too easy to find them again. While it didn‘t turn out to be as easy as that, we nonetheless managed to find the trio outside Grundarfjörður in the company of 8-9 others. They truly were whales on a mission for they were travelling at a fast rate of knots towards Kolgrafarfjörður. We kept them company along the way and they us for even if they knew clearly where they were going, they didn’t seem to mind interacting with the boat along the way and frequently bowrode! Then inside Kolgrafarfjörður we came across their relatives the White-beaked Dolphins which were only too willing to do the same and indeed they did for more than half an hour. To see two species on a tour is special, to have both bowriding is something in a class of its own! What a day!

We also had some amazing encounters on our second Láki Tours boat Brímrún this morning). Besides a lot of white-beaked dolphins we paralleled a group of killer whales in the sunlight. I chose this picture because it is such an excellent example of synchronized breathing and shows the strong family bonds in killer whales!