Sunday 12 June 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey - We sailed from the old harbour of Reykjavik, trying to reach the area were an amazing humpback whale was spotted behaving really funny in previous tours. About 40 minutes after our departure we came across a small pod of about 5-7 harbour porpoises that were swimming really fast towards us. We managed to see them jumping a few times, and as the waters were really clear, we also saw them diving underneath our boat, really close to us! It was a wonderful experience. We continued sailing a little further on, trying to reach the humpy, but instead we encountered a magnificent spectacle! A couple of white beaked dolphins mothers with their calfs! And the most exciting fact is that the two little ones were really playful, jumping all the way in their travel around the Faxa bay. We left this wonderful animals, and the experience get even better when we spotted 1 minke whale surfacing really close to us. By the slow motion that the animal was showing we thought that it might have been resting, thought you really never can tell what is really happening. If only we could understand a little better this beautiful animals...!

- Alberto Alejandro

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding - Following the fantastic morning sightings of all 4 species we were extremely hopeful to find some cetaceans, especially as the wind had calmed out to sea. We traveled in the direction of Akranes where the whales had been sighted earlier, and after 45 minutes saw not 1 but 3 minke whales surface at 200, 500 and 800 m in front of the boat. We stayed a little however our wonderful captain spotted a big blow 1 km away on the horizon amongst a big flock of birds, so we headed in that direction. Once we reached the area a humpback whale surfaced within 100 m of the boat! We could see the outline of this individual resting under the water due to the bright sunshine, and so predict its surfacing to the delight of many passengers on board. After a half hour we decided to let the other boats enjoy this individual´s company and tried to approach 2 minke whales we had seen surfacing towards Hvalfjörður whilst watching the humpback. Although they were behaving elusively we did have one individual come up 150 m from the boat, back glistening in the light, and with that we decided to head home with the gorgeous sunshine to our back.

- Alejandro García

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: The sun showed up through the cloudy morning that we had giving us some energy for the whole tour. We were a small team this time but very in the mood to see some cetaceans. Half an hour after we left the port we spotted a harbour porpoise that passed by the side of the boat for a few seconds giving us the first encounter of the day. We kept going out within Faxaflói, and we came across several minke whales, however they were always far in the distance and not more that two times at the surface in a raw. They were a bit elusive, so we decided to keep going and we ended up finding a humpback whale, which was resting in the area, and not very active at the surface, so we decided to leave it behind and looked for something else. Looked like the Bay was a bit relax during the whole afternoon, and just when we were going to head back to the harbour we spotted the same humpback few kilometers away while it was breaching, so we decided to check it out even knowing that we were going to be a bit late back home, but that was definitely the best decision ever. Once we were closer to the animal we realize that it was fluke slapping against the water, and it did it for 30 minutes, together with some breaches and pectoral flipper slapping, rolling at the surface... We stop the engine and enjoyed in silence of the incredible animal that we had in front of the boat. It was just a display of joy! Totally worth it to come back a bit later to the harbour. In our way back we spotted some harbour porpoises that checked us out coming closer to the boat. It was a good last chapter for the week here in Elding, thank you for coming today and enjoy the evening!

-Ophelie Humphrey

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: Today's morning atmosphere was nicely relaxing...Although it was cloudy, there was no wind, therefore we had good conditions for spotting the animals. In about 30 minutes after sailing from the harbour, we spotted a minke whale. We saw it surfacing 2-3 times before it arched its back, which suggested it went for a deeper dive. Just in that moment we got an information that there has been humpback whale spotted just in front of us, about a mile away, so we headed there to check it out. There were already 2 big boats around but they soon left the area, to avoid overcrowding the area around the whale. We stayed in the area patiently waiting for the humpback to surface up and, after awhile, were treated with really nice encounter- the whale surfaced few times in a row, very close, about 20 meters from our boat, so we had a great view of its back and blowhole and could hear its blow. We were at the great position and the whale seemed very relaxed in our presence so the passangers had an opportunuty to make some great photos! After awhile, we left the humpback and headed a bit further off shore. Soon we spotted two big flocks of birds, and while approaching, two minke whales surfaced up in same time just in font of us, about 40 meters away! They also seemed very relaxed so we could enyojed thier company for about 20 minutes, very close to our boat. A flock of few harbour porpoises (2-4) was around too, feeding. As we started heading back to the harbour, we encountered 2 more pods of harbour porpoises, of 5-6 individuals, and another minke whale. In the distance we saw one pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins feeding. Although we haven't had time to check them up close, it was amazing to see three different cetacean species in the same time just on our way to the harbour! In all, it was a great tour! :)

-Tena Sarcevic

Tour at 9:00

Report from Eldey: Sea conditions were close to perfection this morning. Overcast and almost no waves. We had a bit of changing wind and most of the coast line was covered with fog and clouds. After about 40 minutes we spotted the first cetaceans of the day. There were 3 pods of habour porpoises coming close to the boat one after the other. I counted between 10 to 12 individuals this time. We did not stop much to get a closer look because we heard from other boats there was some more action in the bay. 5 minutes later we saw the second cetacean species of the tour: minke whale! I counted at least 3 individuals around the boat. Even one of them got really close to the bow and surfaced with the whole top of the body!I feel blessed to have witnessed it that close! The other two were a bit farther (about 100-200 meters from the boat). We stayed there for about 10 minutes until we got a call from another boat in the bay. They had seen our beloved giant: the humpback whale. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the area where the animal was found in the first place. The funny fact is that we saw another minke whale swimming in between boats. What a nice surprise! After a bit of wait there it was: the humpback! It came out of the water to get some air. I believe it was feeding close to the bottom because our fish finder (a small sonar that points out at the bottow of the ocean only underneath the boat) had informed us of some fish presence at the bottom and, also, the whale kept on going for deep dives for about 15 minutes more making some erratic moves. After that it displayed a move we call "tail slapping" which is basically the action of slapping its fluke. It did so for at least 5 times in a row. Very impressive to see. It left the people in awe. Right after that we went out to look for more species and we found our beloved white-beaked dolphin. I counted at least a couple of pods with at least 3 individuals each. We also saw a solitary baby dolphin swimming close to the boat. We were running out of time so we headed back to the harbour with a few more sightings of minkes, dolphins and porpoises. A very complete and diverse tour!

- Jorge Pascual

Birds seen on today´s tours: razorbill, atlantic puffin, common guillemot, lesser black backed gull, northern gannet, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, greater black-backed gull, arctic tern, eider duck, greylag goose arctic skua and great skua.

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful day. There is some mild winds from the east, but almost no waves out at sea. Hope you are able to join us to see these amazing giants in their natural environment.