WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: Third tour on the boat Eldey for today and the wind had picked up a little since last tour so the sea was a bit rougher during this tour. We headed out to the same area where we spotted a lot of cetaceans on the previous tours, and after a couple of minutes we saw the first minke whale. It was feeding in the area together with a lot of sea birds, such as the northern gannet, less black-backed gull, kittiwakes and skuas that were also feasting on food. The passengers got to see an air battle between sea gulls and a skua, where they were fighting over a fish. Really fascinating to watch! More minke whales showed up, and for a moment we were surrounded by at least 4 minke whales. In total we saw at least 6 individuals during the tour. Some of them were unfortunately a bit elusive, just coming up a few times to the surface to breath before they went for deeper dives. One minke whale were more present and we actually had the chance to identify him. It was Háski, the most frequently sighted minke whale last year. So great to see that he is present in the bay also this summer! Even though we only saw one cetacean species compared to the other tours this day, it was a very good tour with close encounters and memorable moments of wildlife.

- Johanna Bergman

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Second tour on the boat Elding with few passengers who wanted to join us in the very calm sea of today. The visibility got better letting us to enjoy the view around Faxaflói. The sea state was completely flat which allowed us to spot a group of 4-7 harbour porpoises after 30 minutes sailing out from the harbour. We had several encounters later on with more porpoises, some of them very close to the boat coming even 20 meter away for a few minutes. We kept our way out and for the next hour we had several encounters with at least 6 minke whales. Some of them were a bit elusive, just showing themselves for a couple of times before going for deeper dives, but we could see them very clear as the sea was very flat. Some others gave us more chances to enjoy them for a bit longer together with some gannets and arctic terns which were feeding in the area too. Very good day for a sail around the bay and see its wildlife.

- Alejandro García

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: On our second tour today the weather got a bit better, as it wasn't foggy anymore. It was still cloudy but the sea remained beautifully flat. We saw 3 humpback whales. One was a bit elusive, second one surfaced few times very close to the boat and the third we saw surfacing few times a bit further away, but still close enough to allow us to sea its blow, back and flukes nicely. We encoutered 5 minke whales, some of which were very close to the boat (just 20 and 50 meters away!). During the whole tour we were enjoying in the company of harbour porpoises (about 50-60 individuals in total!), which were miling, resting and socializing all around our boat. We've been happy and grateful to have the opportunity to see these, usually shy and fast swimming, animals so up close during the most of the tour. We also saw 3 groups of white beaked dolphins, each of 15-20 individuals. Dolphins of the second group were very playful, coming very close to our boat, swimming just below the surface under the bow of the boat and fully leaping, showing their beautiful white-gray pattern. The flat sea and lack of wind allowed us to experience the animals with other senses, as we were able to smell the presence of minke whales and to hear the blows of all of the 4 cetacean species encountered, which made the whole tour even more vivid.

- Tena Šarčević

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We sailed out on a beautifully flat sea, with little wind and only a light drizzle. Just minutes out of the harbour we spotted a minke whale, it surfaced twice before going for a long deep dive so we decided to move on further out into the bay. On our way out we were able to get a wonderfully close look at the beautiful atlantic puffin which came very close to the boat due to the very calm sea. Once further out in the bay a humpback whale was spotted in the distance and we watched as it raised its black and white patterned fluke high into the air. This whale surfaced a few times and occasionally raised its wonderful fluke, after some time it was obvious it was busy feeding as it was going for long deep dives. Due to this and not wanting to disturb the animals natural behaviour we moved on and found another minke whale under a flock of feeding seabirds. This animal surfaced multiple times and was feeding on the shoals of fish around the boat. It even lunge fed just a few meters from the boat! you could see its pink throat grooves and its side and even part of its fluke, which is very rare to see in minkes. After watching this animal for some time another three minkes were spotted in the surrounding after so after checking these out we started to head back to harbour. However, the whale watching didn´t stop there, a further two more minke whales were spotted on the way back feeding underneath another flock of seabirds. 

-Tess Hudson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: The sea was super calm this morning but there a fine mist that covered the bay. The landscape was hidden but it cleared near the end of the tour, It was eerie as we sailed out into the unknown. Thanks to a very friendly fisherman that informed us of a couple of humpback whales not to far from the city. It took us 35 mntures to get to the area of the humpback whales but on the way came across an area of minke whales. First it was just one and then another then suddenly found at leat 3 maybe 4 swimming around us. We wanted to moved on and traveled slowly to thoughly search the area we were told there were humpbacks. It was another whale watching compnay that found the humpback and soon let us know. The humpback whales were very spread out in the bay and going for long dives. However, when they surfaced it was great to see them at the surface in the eerie mist and then they showed their beautiful tail as they dove. The highight of the tour was the plethora of harbour porpoises. Everywhere you looked they were popping up. Must have seen at least 40-50 individuals if not more. Occasionally you could see them logging on the surface and you could watch them swimming just under the surface of the water as they came meters from our boat. By the end of teh tour we must have seen at least 7-8 minke whales, 3 humpback whales and plenty of porpoises. A great morning to start of June. 

- Megan Whittaker

Birds species seen on todays tours: eider duck, northern gannet, kittiwake, black-backed gull, northern fulmar, atlantic puffin, arctic tern, manx shearwater, common guillemot, black guillemot & arctic skua 

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour today. There is little wind from the south but there could be some movement on the boat due to swells out at the bay.