THURSDAY, 02 JULY 2015

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: We were barely out of the harbour when we spotted the first minke whale, in that area there were two minkes one close to the boat and another keeping its distance. After staying for a long time with the minkes we decided to head towards where we saw white beaked dolphins off in the distance. The dolphins were amazing! There were 3 pods working together to bubble net the fish, at one point they formed a fluke slap circle and one at a time swam through. There was a juvenile with one of the pods and it was very fun seeing itbreach and leap out of the sea. We left the dolphins when the pods were disbanding and headed towards where the captain had spotted a tall cloud of vapour. It turned out to be the blow from a humpback whale! We followed it for a short while but then we had to start heading back towards harbour. Everyone was in good spirits and Bjarni the magician mucician kept the tones flowing as we entered the harbour after a truly amazing day at sea.

- Svala Jónsdóttir

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Today has just been absolutely spectacular! We were maybe on the boat for about 10 minutes heading out in to the bay, when suddenly I spotted a large blow about 2 km away. As we approached it turned out to be a humpback whale! This individual was going for 8 minute long deep dives and stayed quite close to the boat. We stayed with this individual for as long as possible before heading further in to the bay. About 20 minutes later we came across three minke whales very close to the boat. We had a few amazing sightings of these sleek animals before we headed back. Again we passed the humpback whale which seemed to wave us goodbye. A great tour enjoyed by all especially me !

- Tommy Torrades

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We headed out to the area with all the minkes and white beaked dolphins. At the same time as we spotted our first minke whale we got reports of a pod of Orca (Killer whales). Traveling full steam ahead we located Hafsúlan surrounded by other whale watching boats. Since we were in no hurry to go back we decided to first check out a really big pod of  white beaked dolphins (20+ individuals), probably a combined group out of many smaller pods, that were hunting together. When the other boats were turning back to harbour we headed towards the Orca and got a good quality time with them. It was a family group, 1 male, 3 females and a juvenile. When we had our fill and the Orca turned their direction we noticed we were close to the area where we had spotted the humpback the day before so we did a quick circle there before heading back to harbour. On our way the same minke as we encountered in the beginning surfaced in front of the boat as if to say 'hey, notice me' before it headed out of the bay. Today has been a great joy for everyone involved!

- Svala Jónsdóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: On this afternoon we traveled straight to the area where we spotted dozens of cetaceans in the morning, and indeed we found them again without much effort. The area was still filled with lots of food, attracting not just minke whales, but also a large amount of white - beaked dolphins. After enjoying the view for a while, we decided to leave this area behind, looking for other individuals. Then we saw it, a huge black dorsal fin coming straight towards us, followed by 4 smaller ones, ORCAS!!! We were as excited as we were surprised, since killerwhales are usually not seen in the Faxaflói bay in summer. We got a very close look at all 5 individuals, one large male, 1 calf, one or two male juvenile and one/two female orcas when they passed us while going underneath the boat. We staid as long as we could, but unfortunately we were running out of time and had to turn back home. Estimating around 10 minke whales and more then 20 white- beaked dolphins.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We headed out in warmth and sun and as soon as we left the harbour we got reports of a lot of minke whales further off shore. We headed towards the area but were stopped on our way by a pod of harbour porpoises that were traveling back to the harbour and came close to our boat. Even though they were so fast that not all the passengers saw them they showed a lot of themselves the few times we spotted them. Then we continued on and cam upon a shy pod of white beaked dolphins on their way somewhere else. We left them alone and continued on to the minke area. It was such an amazing area! Through out our stay there we spotted more than 13 differently positioned individuals. No doubt some of these were the same individual but in one spot we had 6 minkes all around our boat! There were also some pods of dolphins occasionally coming within eyesight on either side of the boat. Eventually we had to say goodbye to the minkes but on our way back to harbour we met the last pod of dolphins. Truly an amazing day

- Svala Jónsdóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: On the first tour of the day we left the harbour in very calm weather looking for cetaceans. We were headed for the famous Márfló area. Before reaching our destination we spotted several minke whales in front of the boat. After a short travel in that direction we were surrounded by minke whales, at some point we had at least 6 minke whales in a 500 meter radius, giving us a close look of these amazing creatures and creating the perfect opportunities for pictures and identification. Our luck continued when we also spotted several white - beaked dolphins, which seemed to be very comfortable around the boat. We stayed with as many animals as possible as long as possible until we had to head back to Reykjaviks harbour, leaving us with some incredible memories. Estimating at least 20 minke whales seen overall and more then 20 white- beaked dolphins.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Birds spotted on todays tours: gannets, fulmars, lesser black-backed gulls, kittiwakes, puffins, arctic terns, european storm petrel, arctic skuas, great skuas, common guillemots.