Sunday, 10 January 2016

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. We predict a mild wind from the east and a calm sea.

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Best tour of the year so far! We had perfect weather conditions with crispy cold air and sunshine. The wind and swells was also completely calm. On this tour we spotted all three species of cetaceans that we have the best chance of encounter this time of year, White-beaked dolphin, humpback whale and harbour porpoise. After only 10 minutes of sailing we encountered a pod of 6-7 white-beaked dolphins, just outside the harbour. We spent some time with these dolphins in very good light conditions and beautiful mountains in the background. One of the dolphins was Sophie, a dolphin well known to us. Further out in the bay we saw thousands of seagulls, mainly Iceland gulls. With so many seabirds we really hoped some cetaceans would be close by and just then we spotted the humpback whale! It was a small individual and we could see it surfacing for some time but it always spent long time underneath the surface making it a little bit difficult to get close. A small pod of 3-4 dolphins was also in the same area. Towards the end of the tour we saw a big gathering of 20+ harbour porpoises. We could see these small cetaceans surfacing all around the boat. An amazing tour with a lot of wildlife and good weather. Make sure to be onboard tomorrow!

- Marcus Bergström 

Bird species seen on todays tour include: Iceland gull, glaucous gull, greater black-backed gull, black-headed gull, great cormorant, European shag and eider duck.