Tour at 20:30
Report from Eldey: It was not that windy as before, but still a fresh breese when we sailed out from the Old harbour. There was still white caps on the waves which made it more difficult to spot cetaceans. Though, the sky was clearing up and the sun was shining upon us and we headed north towards the area where Elding encountered a minke whale on previous tours today. Reaching the area we saw flocks of sea birds and after a couple of minutes we spotted a blow 600 m from the boat, probably from a minke whale. We saw the blow once again at 300 m distance from the boat but unfortunately this was the only sign of cetaceans that we saw on this tour. However, we could enjoy the company of a lot of sea birds but since we did not see any whales, dolphins or porpoises on this tour we offered complimentary tickets to our passengers that they can use again within 2 years. Hopefully the next time they will go on a tour they will enjoy more of the marine mammal wildlife of Faxaflói.
- Johanna Bergman
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Weather and sea conditions started to gave us a little break. We sailed out into Faxafloi, hoping for the luck of Eldey to change from the one that we had on previous tours. About 30 minutes after our departure, we started to spot some wildlife, in the form of some scattered and small flocks of birds, which were feeding on some particular areas. We got really excited, since the presence of this animals is always a good sign, but unfortunately no whales or dolphins appeared this time. We continued our sailing, when a couple of solitary harbour porpoises swam really close to our boat - although they were a little tricky to see, as their movement close to the surface of the water was easily mistaken for some of the rocky waves we were starting to feel again on this tour. Unfortunately, we didn't have more encounters apart from this short one, and as the time was running out we had to come back to the old harbour. We gave to our dear passengers some complimentary tickets, so they would be able to repeat the whale watching experience with us again.
- Alberto Alejandro
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: Still swelly out there so we took a northern route getting some shelter from the mainland. In line with the town Akranes we turned out in the bay, surfing with the swells for a more comfortable ride. We searched for a very long time on this tour with one short encounter of 2 harbour porpoises as the result. Until we met the most sociable minke whale in Iceland! At least it felt like that. This whale was so curious of us so it stayed in our present for half an hour surfacing right next to us, almost touching the boat. We got to see the whole body of the animal when it was just floating around us looking at us as much as we were looking at it. Amazing wildlife encounter with a wild animal approaching us and not the other way around. We could leave when the whale started to head away from us feeling very satisfied with this experience. Rough weather with a great minke whale can sum up the tour. Over and out!
- Marcus Bergström
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The wind had calmed down a bit and the sun was shining when we were sailing out this afternoon, so that most of our passengers decided to stay outside in one of our red overalls. During our search, we were accompanied by many seabirds, including the cute Atlantic puffins and the majestic northern gannets. After about one and a half hours we stopped in front of a large flock of birds and actually saw a minke whale surfacing. However, this animal turned out to be rather shy and so we only saw it surfacing three times before it vanished. When we turned around and started heading back, we saw two harbour porpoises travelling at high speed past us, causing quite big splashes for so small animals. Then it was time for us to return to the old harbor of Reykjavik. Because we had seen a minke whale and harbour porpoises rather quickly and not everybody could see them, we decided to give out complimentary tickets to all passengers so they can return for another whale watching tour with us here at Elding.
- Barbara Neubarth
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: It was rough out there today and we had the roller coaster experience onboard our boat today. That brought some green faces amongst the passengers but the ones feeling fine could enjoy a thrilling boat ride. We searched for some time before a minke whale surfaced right in front of us. We got some short views of the whale before it disappeared in the swells. A second minke was soon found and we also could see this individual a couple of times before it was gone. All and all two good encounters in the swells so most of us got the chance of seeing the whales. A pod of 2 harbour porpoises got to end the tour right before we had to start heading back in the roller coaster ride to harbour. An adventures tour out this morning. Over and out!
- Marcus Bergström
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: The wind had picked up the day before and it kept going that way for the morning. The sea conditions were not the best either but the light was really nice and also the landscape around the bay was conspicuous to the passengers. Also, it was more like a bird watching tour! We had a lot of different birds species feeding in flocks! We could witness a couple of fights between the arctic skua and the lesser-black backed gull with no clear winners. After 30 minutes of sailing we came across our first big flock of birds. I could also see a shadow in the water. As soon as we approached it and got close enough the shadow had gone deeply into the ocean. Hard to say which species of cetacean it was. Also a passenger could catch a glimpse of a minke whale far in the distance close to that flock of birds before so it could have been that one. We tried our best to spot more animals but it was very hard. We got a call from another boat in the bay saying they´d seen another minke whale. We tried to find it ourselves and some people could catch a glimpse of it in the distance. We waited for about 20 minutes but we could not see it again. It had gone for a very long deep dive. The hope is the last thing you loose they say, so we kept on searching for more animals in the bay. Birds were accompanying us for most of the tour! amazing creatures too! We tried and tried but no more cetacean sightings came about so we went back to Reykjavik. Unfortunately we were running out of time. We gave out complimentary tickets to everyone who wanted one so they can come back on another whale-watching tour with us anytime within 2 years. Maybe we see more animals next time!
- Jorge Pascual
Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, "blue fulmar", greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake, herring gull, black-headed gull, common guillemot, cormorant, razorbill, puffin, arctic tern, arctic skua and eider duck.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbor in Reykjavík today. There are strong winds blowing from the north and there will be swells.