Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The light rain was coming and going and at the beginning of the tour we were without references of landscape around us but it cleared up more and more, so that Reykjanes appeared in front of us and for one moment we even saw a bit of sky. The wind and swell got less and the spotting conditions better. Suddenly a minke whale crossed our way. It was travelling fast and coming up 6 times in a row every few seconds. That gave us the chance to follow it with our eyes as it appeared at 1 o'clock then at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and as it dove down for a longer time we lost it out of sight but as his breathing sequence was so frequent and predictable everybody could get at least a glimpse of this minke. We ended our tour in Hafnarfjörður so we took course towards the harbour and in this much calmer conditions we observed a pod of harbour porpoises of more than 5 which were milling and gave as many chances to have good looks at them. Even a few leaps showed us their whole tiny body.
- Carine Zimmermann
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: During the whole tour we had some light rain as we were in the middle of the white clouds. It was a bit mystical not seeing any landmarks around us. The wind and swell were quite dominating what made it more challenging to do whale watching. We managed to see first a minke whale but for a very short time and then it was gone. Then we met a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins which we observed a bit longer and once close enough to notice their black and white pattern before they traveled away from us out of reach. At the end we came across a second minke which just appeared once. As this was a wet, rough and tricky tour without landscape views we gave everybody the chance to come back again to have a nice experience with hopefully nice cetaceans.
- Carine Zimmermann
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The sky was overcast but it did not rain. There was wind and swell. We saw the base of the mountains around us as the tops were hidden in the clouds. Our tour became successful when we met a pod of at least 5 white-beaked dolphins. Two of them were significantly smaller as they were juveniles. To keep up with their group or just because they were more energetic they were frequently leaping, showing us their body and size. We watched them for a while how they swam in a tight group coming regularly to the surface but before we left they started a spectacle for us. More leaps and then suddenly one which was quite close to us started breaching, letting his body fall backwards onto the surface with a lot of splashing. That made our day!
- Carine Zimmermann
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