Saturday, 20 June

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: On this beautiful night we went out from Reykjaviks harbour in search of cetaceans. We had several minke whale sightings during the day, as well as many flocks of arctic terns. The abundance of animals plus the readings on our fish- finder showed that the bay was rich in fish to feed on. Unfortunately this was not the case for our night tour. Checking area over area we were not able to spot any cetaceans. On our way back to the harbour, passengers enjoyed the beautiful sunset and the smooth ride. Just as we were about to reach the harbour a blow was spotted, while turning the boat around we found out it was the blow of a humpback whale. Everybody was surprised and extremely excited at the same time. We stayed with the animal for about half an hour, watching it resurface very unpredictable, only once after every dive. We had some very close sightings as well, having the perfect setting with the humpback whale, an incredible sunset and Iceland's beautiful landscape. This day could not have ended better, leaving our passengers with a memory they will never forget.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: As we departed from Reykjavík, we were full of hopes to find cetaceans again after the successful tours we had previously. We spotted one minke whale after about an hour, but only saw it once before it vanished. However, we soon sighted another one. This one was also a little elusive, but it surfaced four times in a row about 50 m from our boat, so still everyone got a close look at the minke whale. Only a few minutes after that we came across a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins. They crossed our path a few times and we easy to follow while they were traveling next to us surfacing in the sun's glare. Beautiful dolphins saving the tour! 

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: The weather conditions today were absolutely perfect for whale spotting, cloudy but dry and low wind speed with flat sea. We went to the area where Hafsúlan had spotted a minke whale. When we arrived Hafsúlan had already left so we were the only boat close to the minke whale. This minke seemed to be feeding as it spent a long time at the same spot and changed directions frequently. While we watched this calm minke whale surface again and again close to the boat we noticed another minke whale a bit further out on the bay and two pods of harbor porpoises. We decided to not stay for too long with the same animal and kept on going south were we had heard news about dolphins from other whale watching boats. On our way we saw 4 other minke whales that we stayed with until we went to see a pod of 5 white beaked dolphins. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was still very nice like the morning tour but this time it took us a little longer to find the animals we were searching for. We first saw a minke whale that didn´t give us a great show, though this was a little disappointing it worked out very well as it lead us to an area with many more minke whales that were much better to look at. There were many times when the whales were coming close to the boat and giving everyone great chances to see and photograph the whales. We decided after a long time with these whales that we would search for another species. This gave us a very nice end to the tour as we found a pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins that were at first traveling alongside our boat but also swimming underneath and around us also. This was the end we were hoping for and it was another very nice trip this afternoon.

- Jack Ball

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: the weather had not changed munch since the morning tour. we went to an area where we had seen some minke whales in the morning tour. After a short time searching we found to minke whales that seemed to be feeding. There were big flocks of birds feeding around them. we got news from Hafsúlan that they had seen a group of dolphins further north so we decided to head to them. Unfortunately we were not able to find the dolphins but instead we found two other minke whales and two pods of harbor porpoises. We often got really good look at the minke whales and we even got to see one surface only few meters from the boat and saw it swimming under the boat and surface on the other side of it. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sailing conditions were excellent this morning from Reykjavík, the wind and swell were all low so we had smooth sailing throughout. Our first encounter was with a pod of white-beaked dolphins, this was a small pod of 4 dolphins and we were able to follow them as they traveled through the area even swimming underneath the boat sometimes. Later we saw a sign in the distance of a whale, when we traveled to this area it turned out to be full of minke whales! Around us there were 4-5 minke whales feeding, this was a fantastic encounter with lots of great chances to see and take photographs of the whales. The best part though was when one of the whales rolled around at the surface as it was feeding and we got a look at the pink belly of the whale, a rare and beautiful sight. When later traveling around the bay on our journey to the city we came across 3 more minke whales and managed to get good looks at those too. So in all around 8 minke whales and a pod of dolphins, plus great weather making a really nice trip overall!

- Jack Ball

Birds sighted on todays tour: Puffins, fulmars, great skuas, black-backed gulls, kittiwakes, cormorants, arctic terns, eider ducks, northern gannets, arctic skuas, guillemots, razorbills, manx shearwaters.