Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Cold and rocky could be the main words used to describe this tour. Even if we had some sunlight and excellent visibility, a strong and freezing wind was coming to us from North-East. Still we left Reykjavik in excellent mood, hoping for the best since the day had been excellent for whale watching. We had to sail a long time before we spotted a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins. Those ones were quite elusive, only surfaced close to us a couple of time and then went away. After sailing and looking more on the water, we met another pod of white-beaked dolphins. There was about 5 of them again, and they were more playful. They were jumping around the boat and also bow riding in front of us, enjoying the waves and enjoying life. It was a really joyful show, but also a tiring one since the capricious dolphins were constantly swimming under the boat to surface on the opposite side, making us switch from left to right and from front to back, and vice versa. Free exercises coaches on Faxaflói ! After this nice session with the dolphins, we began to travel again to try to find other species. Unfortunately, mother nature did not allowed to see more of its wonder on this tour. We came back to Reykjavik happy to return to warmth and stability. For my last diary entry: peace be upon your journey in Iceland, and happy whale watching !
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The sea conditions had not really improved since this morning, it was still pretty bumpy. So we sailed a bit north first to gain some shelter from the mountains before we headed further in to Faxaflói. Then we soon spotted a group of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins. First, it seemed like they disappeared quickly but then they suddenly came closer and crossed our path only about 30 m away from the boat so that we got some pretty close looks. As we moved on we soon found another group of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins. However, we only saw them surfacing twice before they were gone. We headed into an area where a humpback whale had been spotted earlier, and we managed to also find it and then it even jumped out of the water for us (breaching) - spectacular. Inbetween the surfacing, however, this humpback whale went for long dives making it difficult to keep track of it. So, after we had spent some time with it, we decided to head back to the harbour. Just after 5-10 minutes, another pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins crossed our path, so that we got another look at this beautiful species. When we got a little closer to the harbour, suddenly another humpback whale showed up. It kept tail-lobbing, so that we turned towards this individual to give our passengers another opportunity to see a humpback whale. It stayed at the water surface for a long time and kept slapping its tail on the water. Despite the rough conditions, this unexpected encounter with "our" humpback "Þröstur" made this tour truly special.
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The wind had calmed down a lot from this morning but it was still a pretty bumpy ride for the passengers. We hadn't gone far when we encountered our first species of the tour, a pod of white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins, which were about 5-6 individuals were leaping into the air and making big splashes so it was easy to spot. A really great start but it was only going to get better. After some time of sailing we passed a minke whale that only surfaced two times and then disappeared so we kept on going. We had to look hard for our next spot but eventually we spotted a big blow in front of us. This was a humpback whale, but to our surprise it wasn't Þröstur. This individual had a complete white surface underneath it's fluke. This individual was going for deep dives a lot and it was hard to follow it but we still managed to see the fluke or tail of the animal and also some tail slapping in the end. On our way back to the harbour we were lucky enough to see a pod of the adorable harbour porpoises, 2-3 individuals, just right in front of the boat and then another pod of dolphins again leaping into the air and doing some amazing acrobatics for our passengers. Really a great tour with four species.
- Katrín Björnsdóttir
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: This morning conditions were quite rough as we headed out towards Faxa bay to begin our search. We began by heading along the north coast of Faxa bay in relative cover from the swells. After heading along the coast for a while we turned south and with the winds at our backs headed towards our main whale watching area. We had been sailing for quite a while when we spotted a humpback whale surrounded by a pod of about 4-5 white-beaked dolphins. We saw these individuals a few times together quite close to the boat and it was quite the show, having two species at once close to the boat. A good tour and we headed back to Reykjavik in the noon sun.
-Ívar Elí
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: This windy morning we sailed out from Reykjavík harbour. The conditions were rough and the passengers were warned before we left for the tour. This turned out to be a great tour despite the sea conditions with the sun shining and keeping us warm. It took us a while to find our first animal of the day, which was a minke whale and this individual only surfaced a once or twice before disappearing and we didn't see it again. But we kept on going and after about 1 1/2 hour we spotted a big blow. This turned out to be Þröstur the humpback whale, our very good friend that has been around the bay since the 2nd of July. After few minutes a small pod of white-beaked dolphins joined Þröstur, maybe 2-3 individual and stayed with Þröstur for a while. Since it took us so long to fins Þröstur we were really late and had to turn back and leave Þröstur and the dolphins. Still a very good tour even though the sea conditions weren't in our favor,
- Katrín Björnsdóttir
Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, kittiwakes, atlantic puffins, arctic terns, common guillemots and lesser black-backed gulls.
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