Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: On the last official tour of the day the weather was still as good as on the earlier trips, making the tour very special. The calm surface made it possible to spot a big pod of white- beaked dolphins, traveling very close to land, towards Reykjavik´s islands. We identified one of them as Montgomery, who was seen on the afternoon tour as well. The group had at least 12 different dolphins, including at least one calf traveling with it´s mother. In the second half of our very amazing trip we saw around 4 individual minke whales surfacing all around the boat, as well as around 2 harbour porpoises. We stayed with the last minke whale of the day as long as we could, but at some point we needed to go back home to Reykjavik.
- Michaela Buchbauer
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: Conditions this afternoon were even better than this morning with mirror flat seas and a light drizzle in the beginning of the tour. We headed out to where our other vessel Hafsúlan was located and as we got close to their location we were caught up in quite a few pods of white-beaked dolphins. There must have been 4-5 pods of 3-5 individuals each and almost everywhere you looked a dolphin was surfacing. They swam around and under us giving us a fantastic look at them, an awesome experience. We then headed further out and soon spotted some minke whales. At first the minkes were quite elusive but soon we found 2-3 feeding minke whales by a group of arctic terns and spent the rest of the tour in the very pleasant company of these individuals.
- Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: A glorious day on the bay. It is always so special to have the North Atlantic sea flat calm for both wildlife and tourists can relax and rest in. We set out and after 30 minutes of sailing our awesome researcher Alberto spotted the first individual minke whale. This minke was incredible, just hanging out enjoying the weather circling the boat. We were able to identify this individual as Flickr, a minke whales seen since 2009 and usually seen early June. It always great to see the minke whales safe and sound. After 20 minutes of enjoying Flickr and as another boat came we decided to leave and search for other cetaceans. Sporadically harbour porpoises popped up, maybe 2-3 pods of 2-3 individuals in each but they didn't come close. Then we saw a pod of 2-3 white-beaked dolphins, which after 10 minutes turned into a pod of about 6. Later still another 2 pods came together totaling 20 individuals that were incredible to watch as they traveled slowly around the area. We were able to recognise one individual named Montgomery, seen every year since 2012. A great day with great animals.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out today from Reykjavik harbor in conditions close to being perfect for whale watching, mostly overcast with the sun peeking at us from behind the clouds and very little wind. This led to a very good sea state and fantastic visibility. We began the tour by sailing out between Engey and Akurey out onto Faxa Bay to begin our search. After sailing for about forty minutes we started spotting some black backs in the distance by our other vessel Hafsúlan. We headed towards them and soon identified them as minke whales! These were quite friendly individuals and swam around us giving us a good look at them. Most of the tour was spent with these individuals and we had a fantastic time. We were treated to an extra surprise on the way back when we spotted a group of harbor porpoises. Porpoises are usually quite shy but these individuals swam by us slowly and we got a good look at them. A fantastic end to the tour.
- Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: This morning we went out from Reykjavik in search of cetaceans. It didn´t take us a long time to spot them close to the harbour, the calm weather and white clouds reflecting on the water surface made it easy to sight the animals. First we encountered a small group of white- beaked dolphins with at least two individuals. This sighting was over very fast, so we traveled further out. During the rest of the tour we spotted more then 10 different harbour porpoises traveling on the side of the boat. Additionally we had at least 3 individual minke whales, which were seen surfacing many times. They seemed a bit elusive, but still close enough to get some good pictures until we had to start our way back to the harbour.
- Michaela Buchbauer
Birds spotted on today's tours include: northern gannets, kittiwakes, greater black backed gulls, greater black backed gulls, northern fulmars, puffins, common guillemots, puffins, arctic terns, razorbills, manx shearwaters.
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