Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The day ended just as lovely as it began with the sun still high up in the sky. After about 50 min we caught a glimpse of a minke whale. We slowed down to get a better look at it, but unfortunately it only surfaced once more before it went for a dive and vanished. So we moved on and soon came across a pod of 8-10 white-beaked dolphins that another whale watching boat had spotted. They gave us some amazing picture opportunities as they were coming very close to us and stayed with us for a good amount of time surfacing all around us. While watching the dolphins, a humpback whale surfaced just about 50 m away from us as well! We got to see it very well for a few minutes, however it soon went for very long dives and required a lot of patience from our passengers. In the distance we could still see more dolphins speeding around and at some point left the humpback to enjoy some more white-beaked dolphins, this time 12-15 individuals. They were even easier to watch then the first pod since they were always grouped together and also very easy to follow and stayed close to us - amazing creatures! So another tour full of dolphins came to an end!
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey and Elding: Due to the high number of passengers we decided to take two boats out on this tour. We sailed out again on this beautiful sunny day really excited since the morning tour was amazing. Eldey lead the way and went far out to the area where the humpback whale had been spotted this morning. A pod of white-beaked dolphins were spotted, 10 individuals and while the passengers were enjoying the views of the dolphins a humpback whale turned up. After a while with the humpback whale a minke whale popped up as well. Clearly a good area with lot of cetaceans. When the other boats arrived Eldey went on in search for something else. On the way back closer to Reykjavík harbour another minke whale was spotted along with 2 pods of 3-5 harbour porpoises. Elding encountered two white-beaked dolphins on the way out and thus got a little bit behind. After some good encounters with these dolphins it was decided to follow Eldey's lead and see the humpback whale. This individual was amazing and frequently coming to the water surface and fluking before going for a deep dive. On the way back Elding spotted 2 pods of 6-8 individuals of white-beaked dolphins that we had to leave due to lack of time. It was time to head back to Reykjavík after seeing all four species that we commonly see here in Faxaflói bay.
- Katrín Björnsdóttir
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: On this beautiful sunny morning we went out once again looking for our beloved whales and dolphins. And it turned out to be an amazing tour: First, after about an hour, we were surrounded by my favorites, the white-beaked dolphins. It looked like one small pod first but more and more dolphins showed up in the area, probably around 40 altogether. They were jumping out of the water, leaping, coming close to us and playing around us. Suddenly, out of nowhere a minke whale showed up right in between all the dolphins. It surfaced always very fast but stayed within 50 m of us for several minutes and then we even saw it surfing the waves of our boat - something I have never seen a minke whale do before! Then we watched the dolphins and the minke whale feeding together with loads of birds around there too. After this incredible encounter we moved on hoping to find a humpback whale and found one just a few minutes later. Like the minke and dolphins, it also seemed to be feeding and waved it's beautiful fluke at us several times before we had to start heading back to the harbour! Fantastic tour!
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today's tours: northern gannet, northern fulmar, common guillemot, kittiwake, Atlantic puffin, lesser black-backed gull, Arctic tern, and eider ducks.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful day. The sun is out and there is little wind. There could be some movement on the boat when we sail out on the bay.
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