WEDNESDAY, 29 JUNE 2016

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: "After rain comes sunshine" and this evening was not an exception. We headed out from the Old harbour of Reykjavik with rain clouds in the horizon and a sunset that was about to be the most beautiful I have seen in Iceland so far during this summer. The sea was calm, almost flat so we had perfect conditions for whale watching. But the cetaceans seemed to be hiding somewhere. We had to search for over one hour in the bay and than suddenly, we saw a big blow about 800 m from the boat. We could not almost believe it, are the humpback whales back in town again? We checked twice and there it was again, a big blow from the surface. Definitely a humpback whale! We sailed closer and stayed with this animal for the majority time of this tour. The humpback did not seem to be bother by our prescence, it was surface feeding and brought up its fluke several times when it went for a deeper dive. This was the first time I have seen a humpback feed so I think I was just as excited as the passengers. Of course the battery of my camera went low, so instead of taking tonnes of photos I  leaned back and just enjoyed the moment. Next animal to encounter was a breaching white-beaked dolphin. This dolphin was swimming alone and we saw it surfaced a couple of times. Time flies when you have fun so we needed to start heading back to Reykjavik again. On the way back we had to make two stops, both times for minke whales. The first minke whale was only spotted by a passenger and the fluke prints of the captain, but the second minke whale we all could enjoy in the light of the sunset. When we continued back again to harbour we could see a harbour porpoise surface 2 times but since this species tends to be very elusive and since we were already too late, we did not stop for this animal. It was great to see all the four species in the bay again! We came back to the harbour again almost one hour late, but I think everyone onboard did not pay much attention to the clock. When the sunset is that magical and wildlife is blowing you away it is just amazing to sail on the sea. Thank you Flaxafloi for the best evening so far for this summer!

- Johanna Bergman

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: It was slightly raining at the beginning of our tour, but luckily it stopped quickly and sky cleared out, allowing us to be warmed up by the sun and to put our sunglasses. In these conditions, we could fully enjoy the scenery of the bay, and we had the opportunity to see many puffins on the water. It took us a long time before we spotted a whale, but such a calm and smooth trip made the waiting enjoyable, as it was pleasant to be out there in the North Atlantic Ocean. After a while, finally we got to see one minke whale. This individual seemed rather small, probably a young one. It was at first surfacing calmly, but at some point it started to take long deep dives, and became tricky to follow. Fortunately, it was never surfacing far away from us, this minke was probably feeding close to the sea bed, as we could see some fish on our fish finder. All the passengers and the staff were patient with this whale, and it paid off ! Shortly before we started to head back toward Reykjavik, the whale surfaced several within 50m close to our boat, so we could all have great looks and hopefully everybody could take nice pictures. The sailing back home was as nice as the departure, overall it was a comfortable and relaxed trip, which is a blessing regarding the weather of the past couple of weeks.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We set out on a sightly cloudy but warm afternoon. After sailing out into the bay and searching for a while we spotted a pod of animals leaping out of the waters surface. On closer inspection they were identified as 4-5 harbour porpoise. They leaped and playfully swam around the boat coming only a few meters away. The water was so clear you could follow them right under the waters surface! It was incredible to get so close to these animals and to watch them socialise too! We then left these animals as a minke whale was spotted further out in the bay. It was fairly far away about a mile or so. Once closer this animal surfaced once before going for a rather long dive. Due to this we started searching for other animals. Shortly afterwards another minke whale surfaced only a short distance away, this animal popped up only a few meters away and again only 30 meters or so. It was so close you could even see the nick in its dorsal fin. After seeing this wonderful animal we turned and headed for home. And enjoyed a fine sail back with even a little sun!

-Tess Hudson 

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: We headed south towards the area we saw the minke whale this morning. We got one rain shower over us on our way there, but luckily it stopped when we arrived. On the way we encountered 2 pods of 2-3 harbour porpoises. Most of us managed to see these small cetacean before we had to move on. Further south we soon spotted a minke whale far away in the distance in front of us. When we got closer we could stay for a long time with this minke and we managed to get very good observations as it surfaced close to us on several occasions and was quite easy to predict where it was going to come up again. We could leave the whale with good knowledge that we all got a chance to see the animal up close. Sailing home was lovely in the sunshine that visited us. Over and out!

- Marcus Bergström 

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We headed out into Faxaflói bay in overcast but calm conditions for this mornings tour. On our journey out into the bay we were greeted with lots of Atlantic Puffins zipping across the waters surface. As we travelled out further we were alerted by our other boat that there was a minke whale in the area - confirmed by the number of feeding seabirds in the area. As we slowly edged our way closer we saw this animal surface about 400 m away. It was a small individual but we managed to observe this animal within 100 m and saw it surface and dive numerous times. After 15 minutes we left this individual and went on a search for more wildlife in the bay. .As we headed towards the Akrafjall mountain we spotted a much larger minke whale surface about 1 km away. As we approached this animal we managed to watch it surface and dive very close to the boat - even alerting us to it's presence with it's huge exhale of air - combined with it's stinky breath! We spent a great deal of time observing this individual - I could even see customers putting away their cameras to appreciate the relaxed behaviour of this animal. As we were slowly leaving this minke whale and heading back round towards Mount Keilir we happened upon not one but two more minkes whales surfacing in synchronisation! We were able to stay with one of these individuals to watch its impressive snout-first dive technique within 50 m of the boat. As we headed back towards Reykjavik we were able to spot at least 4 harbour porpoises, whose small form was highly distinguishable against the flat calm waters surface. It was great to be able to spend so much time with the minke whales during this tour!

- Darcy Philpott

Tour at 9:00

Report from Eldey: After about 30 minutes of sailing into the bay, we already noticed lots of bird activity. There were few bigger flocks of different bird species feeding. It was lovely to observe all this bird action around us, but we didn't see any cetaceans in the area. We heard from the other boats that they weren't luckier either. After another hour of sailing we heard from another boat that they spotted a minke whale, so we went to that area to check it out. There really was a minke whale; a smaller individual with which we stayed for a while. Although the individual was smaller and showing a small part of it's back on the surface, swimming quite fast and surfacing just twice before going for deeper dive, the dives weren't last for long and all the passengers were able to watch it for some time. After this encounter, we had to start heading to the port, as we were running out of time. Just as we turned the boat, we came across a pod of 2-3 harbour porpoises. After awhile, on our way to the harbour, we encountered another minke whale. Full sized individual passed us by, at the distance of about 200 meters, going in the opposite direction. Most of the passengers saw it, although the animal surfaced just two to three times in a row before it "disappeared". We had another encounter with harbour porpoises, close to the harbour. It was a pod of about 3-5 individuals, this time closer to the boat, surfacing with larger portion of their bodies, and one even showed its full body above sea surface, so all the passengers had a nice look at it!

-Tena Sarcevic 

Birds species seen on todays tours: arctic tern, northern fulmar, northern gannet, atlantic puffin, common guillemot, greater black-backed gull, dunlin, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, kittiwake and eider duck.

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. The waves from last night are getting smaller and the wind is also calmer. But there could be some movement on the boat out on the Faxabay.