MONDAY, 31 AUGUST

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: In the evening tour the weather was still considerably good, but it obviously worsened during the day. We traveled west straight away, looking for the high amounts of animals found during the day. After a short trip into the bay we encountered a group of white- beaked dolphins with around 5 individuals. We enjoyed there close encounter for a while until we decided to move on because of a large splash spotted very far away. We decided to have a look in this area, hoping we might get lucky in finding the humpback whale from the morning tour. Further out into the bay we found another, large pod of dolphins. These animals were followed by several minke whales. We stayed with those mammals as long as we could until we had to turn around the boat to go home again. Estimating 2 pods of white- beaked dolphins with around 12 individuals, as well as approximately 3 different  minke whales.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Tour at 14:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the harbour in very nice weather. Little wind and actually some sunshine peaking through the clouds. The sea conditions remained good with only some long rolling swells. We headed out starting our search towards the west. After 40 minutes of sailing we encountered the first pod of dolphins for the tour. 3-4 white-beaked dolphins showed a very elusive behavior, going for deeper dives as soon we closed in on them. These are wild animals so we of course respected their wish of being left alone. Not far away we spotted a minke whale surfacing twice before we lost it. The tour continued in this manner and even though we encountered 2 more minkes and 2 pods of dolphins (4+8), no animal wanted to show themselves very good. Some thick mist rolled in and forced us to return to harbour. We decided to give our passengers complimentary tickets valid for a whale watching tour with us within two years.  

- Marcus Bergström 

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Again we had a mirror like surface as we traveled on to the bay, and after this morning excellent tour our hopes were high. There was a bit of a swell but no wind so spotting conditions were pretty awesome. It took us only 25 minutes to see our first of 4 minke whales. We didn´t hang about because we were traveling straight to the humpbacks last sighting. This was quite far out so we passed several more minke´s on our way out. Then we had 6 white beaked dolphins join the boat and play with us. On we went however alas the humpback must have made a getaway because nothing was sighted of the animal. Fortunately on our way back in to the bay we spotted another pod of white beaked dolphins and 2 more minke whales. Very welcoming to have calm skies back.

-Tommy Torrades

Tour at 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This tour was very special because we went out with a rescue mission. A puffin had been found on land and handed over to the ticket office and we went out to release it into the wild. We went out from Reykjavík in beautiful weather and perfect sea conditions with totally flat sea. We didn't have to sail for long until a passengers spotted our first animal of the day, a minke whale. This individual was very interesting, surfaced frequently and really close to the boat. We probably encountered three minke whales in this area within 600 meters and then decided to head further out. Two pretty big pods of white-beaked dolphins were our next encounters and one pod swam towards us on a pretty fast pace. This pod was pretty big, between 10-12 individuals and they came right up to the boat,swam under it and were leaping into the air. Few minutes later the other pod of dolphins, maybe 10-14 individuals swam towards us as well. After a while with the dolphins we spotted a big blow in front of us and decided to move closer. When we came closer we noticed that this was Þröstur the humpback whale. A very good friend of ours that we have been spotting since the 2nd of July in Faxaflói bay. We had maybe stayed with Þröstur for 10 minutes when the dolphins joined in again and started to follow Þröstur. We have been seeing this a lot this summer and Þröstur didn't seem to like it that much. So we headed further out because we wanted to find a good place for us to release the puffling that was on board. We decided on a place, stopped the boat and successfully released the puffling into the air. It landed on the ocean surface and went for a dive so we said goodbye to that cute bird and moved on. After a while we spotted Þröstur again and stayed with him for a couple of minutes but then we had to head back home to Reykjavík as we were running out of time. Really a special tour today with lot of wildlife and one very successful rescue mission. 

- Katrín Björnsdóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: On this incredibly calm morning we left the harbour in search of cetacean. Right away we knew that this tour is going to be a great one, having the best sea conditions possible. It didn't take long until we found our first marine mammal, a minke whale.Throughhout the tour we continued to see loads of minke whales as well as harbour porpoises.We also managed to spot two different pods of white- beaked dolphins, which gave us an incredible look at them. These animals also showed us the location of the humpback whale Þröstur that was a please to see again, as it has been seen quiet a lot in the Faxaflói bay. Even on our way back we continued to see lots of cetaceans. Estimating around 7 minke whales, one humpback whale, two pods of white- beaked dolphins with 5 and 7 individuals and around 4 harbour porpoises.

- Michaela Buchbauer

Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, kittiwakes, Sabine's gull (adult), atlantic puffins, arctic terns, common guillemots, razorbills and lesser- and greater black-backed gulls.