Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The weather made a turn towards the worse on this evening tour. Strong winds and light rain, really made the flotation overalls that we offer all of our passengers come to good use. We sailed into the waves for the first part of the tour and the ride was pretty bumpy. After only 40 minutes we spotted a small pod of 2-3 harbour porpoises infront of the boat. They seemed to be travelling and didn´t stopped for us to have a good look at them. We continued our search out in the bay. The visibility decreased further out, limit our range to only around 500 meters of visiability. We managed to spot some seabirds and could enjoy both puffins and manx shearwaters flying by. Sadly no more cetaceans were seen on this tour. Therefore we offered all passengers complimentary tickets for another whale watching tour with us within the next two years.
- Marcus Bergström
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: With a slight wind blowing from the sea of we went on our whale watching trip. I was very confident after the successful tours we had in the morning. Conditions a little worse but still a flat sea with only sporadic whitecaps. We had a few bird lovers on board and they really enjoyed watching the puffins flap desperately to stay in the air in comparison with the cool fulmars gliding over the surface. With reports that the other boats had spotted something we raced to join them. Suddenly the sea was quiet with a lack of birds and the surface was distinctly absent of any forms of life. Ever hopeful we persevered onwards searching for a sign of life. Alas after searching high and low, there was no signs of any cetaceans. We were disappointed however the beautiful vistas and fresh air did something to ease it. We offered everyone complimentary tickets and everyone was hopeful for the next tour.
-Michel Torrades (Formerly known as Tommy)
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: If the weather conditions on the morning tour was better in the bay than in the harbour it was the opposite on the afternoon tour. We left the harbour in a little bit of sunshine and weak winds. Soon out in the bay the wind picked up and some clouds moved in. After 50 minutes of sailing we come across a flock of feeding arctic terns and kittiwakes. This is always a good sign, and soon a minke whale surfaced underneath the feeding birds. The minke was fully occupied feeding and didn´t take much noticed of us, surfacing close to the boat on several occasions! A very nice minke whale, that we left in peace after watching it feed for 40 minutes. We searched the area for other cetaceans but didn´t find any. On our way back another minke whale surfaced in the distance giving us some short views before we had to head back to harbour. Really nice tour with a feeding minke whale!
- Marcus Bergström
Tour at 10:00
Report from Skruður: It was drizzling rain in the harbour but it looked better out in the bay. It took us maybe 40 minutes to head out to where the other whale watching boats were spotting a pod of white-beaked dolphins. Maybe 2-3 pods of 10-15 individuals feeding on the small fish close to the surface. They started to body slap to scare the fish to where they wanted them to go then the occasional rest in between where they surfaced slowly and gave everyone a great viewing. We then got word of a minke whale a bit more to the west. Once in the area minke whales started to appear in all directions and most likely saw 5 animals all together busy feeding. Sometimes surfacing just 20 meters from our boat which caused of excitement sounds from our passengers. Just as we were about to head back a small pod of 2 harbour porpoises surfaced slowly just 5 meters in front of our boat and we all watched these, usually shy animals, for maybe 5 minutes before heading home. A great but overcast day on the bay.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: A cloudy sky and a bit of rain met us this morning when we sailed out from Reykjavik old harbour. After nearly an hour of sailing we spotted our first sign of cetaceans. It proved to be a pod of 2-3 white-beaked dolphins that was slowly moving around in one area. Showing themselves beautifully to us! In the same area we shortly spotted a surfacing of a minke whale in the distance. The whale was very elusive so only a few passengers saw it. That is why we decided to continue sailing out in the bay to search for another minke whale. A short glimpse of a pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises was the result of the search further out. On our way back we stopped by our sister boat Elding that had spotted a minke whale in the same area as the dolphins earlier. No minke whale, but a new pod of 7+ white-beaked dolphins and the old pod gave us more good views of these lovely cetaceans.
- Marcus Bergström
Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes, lesser black-backed gulls, arctic skuas, arctic terns, common guillemots, razorbills, eider ducks, shags, manx shearwaters, glaucous gulls and puffins.