Tour at 20:30
Tour at 20:30 We started our tour out in Akurey where we had a look at the puffins. Then we headed out on the bay to search for whales. There was a swell on Faxaflói bay this evening, the wind was blowing and the surface was choppy. We searched a large area, but there were neither birds nor whales to be seen :( The midnight-sunset was really beautiful though. Our unfortunate passengers got a complimentary ticket, and we are looking forward to seeing them again!"
Tour at 17:00
The wind had picked up but the sun came out from the clouds, so still, nice weather. We headed out to Faxaflói bay trying to find the Humpback again and all the other whales from the trip before. But this is the wild nature and we cannot control it. After sailing for 120 minutes and not finding any whales we finally spotted a big group of Harbour porpoises. It was a nice group which came quite close to the boat and were surfing the waves. Very nice group. Suddenly a Minke Whale surfaced 300 m away from the boat. It surfaced 4 times again 60 m. in front of us. We were quite lucky to find that whale. But unfortunately it disappeared after that. So our passenger were rewarded for their patience.
Tour at 13:00
Ok this may be a long one, The weather was a lot nicer, sun was out and visibility good. We headed straight out offshore and got word from Elding about a pod of Harbour Porpoises which were really interactive and fun to watch. Surfacing many times and surfing the waves. We stayed with these for a little while before they disappeared. Then we started to head further offshore and suddenly we had a yelling over the radio from Elding "Humpback", "Humpback". The Humpback was flipper slapping for a while as we were approaching then it surfaced as nornmal for a while. When we were starting to get used to the Humpbacks behaviour it did a beautiful breach. Whoo hoo"!! We stayed with the Humpback for a little while, watching it surface only 30-50 meters from us. We also saw a couple of Minke Whales in the area. It was just amazing the Humpback and a Minke Whale surfaced together side by side three times before the Minke speeded away and the Humpback went for a deep dive, showing the tail. After a while the Humpback dived and wasn´t seen again. We had a little time left so we sailed a bit further offshore and got word from Elding that they have found a large pod of White-beaked Dolphins (15 - 30 dolphins). There were a juvenile with them and some looked very bulbous, like they may be pregnant. They suddenly started leaping out of the water. They were just amazing to watch. We headed the tour by visiting Akurey and saw a lot of Puffins. So rare to see all 4 species of Faxaflói Bays cetaceans in just one tour. Absolutely mind blowingly good tour. Yippppeeeeeeeeee.
Tour at 09.00
Report from Hafsúlan - We started our trip with a stop at the Puffin Island Akurey. There were many Puffins, all really active. A lot were flying around the Island and some were sitting on the water surface. We headed out to Faxaflói bay and on our way we saw some Harbour Porpoises in front of the boat. One came really close to the boat and we still saw him under the water. It was amazing but they disappeared after surfacing three times. So we headed on and tried to find some nice Whales. It didn't take us long before we spotted a Minke Whale. It surfaced twice and when took a deeper dive. We tried to see it again but it seemed to be gone. So we headed on. It took us sometime but we saw a lot of Gannets and Arctic Terns while we were waiting for another Minke Whale to pop up. The Gannets put on a great show for us. There were so many and they dived for fish, it was really nice to see them in such action. When we saw a Minke Whale again, and not only one there were at least 2 or 3, they surfaced right in front of our boat and the passengers could have a good look at it. Unfortunately our time was up and we had to go back to the harbour. It was a gorgeous tour today!!
Report from Elding - Today was not the best, weather wise. It was drizzling and the visibility was quite poor to the extent that you couldn´t see Reykjanes Peninsula. Like Hafsúlan we started the tour by visiting Akurey and saw thousands of Puffins. We then headed offshore and came across a pod of Harbour Porpoises which were really interactive and fun to watch. Surfacing many times and surfing the waves. Once Hafsúlan came we headed offshore to find the larger whales. We did find some Minkes early on but they were very difficult and elusive. Then suddenly we came to an area and had a minimum of 4 Minkes in the area. One was a juvenile and surfaced a couple of times just 20 meters from our boat. Amazing!!. On our way home we came across another pod of Harbour Porpoises. Birds we saw were; Puffins, Gannets, Guillemots, Fulmars, Arctic Terns, Kittiwakes, Gulls, Eider Ducks, Skuas. Fantastic tour.