Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in sight. Little did we know the tour was going to be so great. About 30 mins in and suddenly there was a minke whale blow. The minke was feeding and we managed to get great views of it lunging and rolling. It was soon joined by another. We had these minkes beside us for a long time. Getting as close as 10 metres to the boat. We moved further out in to the bay and we spotted some fantastic views of breaching white-beaked dolphins. They provided great amusement to the passengers with their antics. Soon we ran out of time and as we returned to the inner bay of course more cetaceans popped up. A great tour.
-Tommy Torrades
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding:
The wind had picked up slightly and it felt colder on the way out so our passengers made use of the free overalls provided onboard. It also took us longer to find the minke whales on this tour as they seemed to be fewer and dove longer than before. Eventually we found them and had one individual traveling very close to our boat, The guide even saw it rolling below the surface just 30 meters from the boat but the passengers missed it. All in all we saw maybe 4 minke whales and a small pod or 2-3 harbour porpoises but they were traveling fast and not all on board saw them. We got to see many puffins, arctic terns, manx shearwaters and even a gannet and arctic skua. On the way home we had a close look at the Russian vessel Kruzenshtern that has been anchored off the harbour for a couple of weeks. Nice end to a nice tour.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: Conditions were slightly rougher than this morning but the sea state was good and the boat was quite steady. We began by heading out to where we had spotted animals on the tour this morning. There we spotted lots of birds circling about, feeding and even some gannets diving for food. Soon after arriving we spotted a blow and then a back belonging to a minke whale! We got a few good looks at this individual before he took a deep dive and swam away. Almost as soon as that individual had left we spotted a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins as they swam across our bow. It is always a pleasure to spot the dolphins and we hope our passengers got some good photos! The dolphins left soon after we spotted them and the rest of the tour was spent with a minke that was quite elusive but our passengers were alert and good spotters so we saw the minke a few more times before we headed back to Reykjavik.
- Ívar Elí
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Once again it was perfect to be out on the water with beautiful weather and incredible wildlife. Once leaving the harbour it took us about 50 minutes to arrive at the location of the fast traveling white-beaked dolphins. A pod of maybe 50+ were going so fast towards the north that it was difficult to keep up. We did and enjoyed the dolphins surfacing together with the sun gleaming of their backs. We decided to leave the dolphins and find some minke whales. It didn´t take us long and soon we had at least 3 surfacing around us with others in the distance. Throughout the tour we must have seen 6-7 individuals but it was a minke whale called´micro´ (seen every year since 2007) that stole the show as it was the one we got the best look at as it feed around the boat for more than 30 minutes, we barely had to move, just enjoyed watching it feed around us. The ride back to Reykjavik was relaxing in the warm summers sun and the cold wind pushing us towards home.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out from Reykjavík today in the perfect whale watching weather and sea conditions. And obviously the cetaceans in Faxaflói were thinking the same, because very soon we could see a pod of white-beaked dolphins jumping out of the water in some distance. As we got closer, we were able to watch the large group of 50+ individuals feeding together with many sea birds. They were going in all directions as they were herding the fish together and we saw them racing next to our boat. Spectacular! As if this was not enough, we spotted 3+ minke whales in the same area, probably also feeding and surfacing all around us. An amazing tour with lots of animals!
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, kittiwakes, arctic terns, puffins, common guillemots, manx shearwaters, arctic skua, red-necked phalaropes and eider ducks.
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