Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: It was still very warm as we left the harbour for our "Whales in the Midnight Sun" tour. And what a lovely evening of sunshine and a beautiful sunset we got to enjoy! But first things first... It didn´t take our captain much more than 30 minutes to spot the first whale - a minke whale! At first we had a tough time keeping track of it, but in the end we managed to see it surfacing a few times in front of the boat quite close to us. After watching it surface a bit further away again - with the city of Reykjavík in the evening light as a beautiful background - we decided to head a bit further out. And the bay had another lovely surprise waiting for us... One of our passengers was the first one to spot a few small backs with large dorsal fins - we had managed to find a small group of white-beaked dolphins! They seemed quite busy, changing their direction of travel quite frequently. They did however surface very close to us on a few occasions and we got some amazing looks at their beautiful pattern lit up by the evening sun... After taking another small turn in the bay we started heading towards the city again... And during the whole journey back to the harbour Bjarni kept us well entertained with his broad repertoire of songs and jokes.
- Linda
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The sun was beautifully hot and sunny as set sail into Faxafloi bay. There was very little wind so it was a delightful sail out. Only a short distance out into the bay a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises were spotted they surfaced a few times before moving off further into the distance. So we headed further out, after some time searching we could see large splashes in the distance, followed by a couple of blows. The animal was about 2 miles away at this point so we took some time to get closer to this individual. As the conditions were perfect for following blows it was easy to spot this animal until we were much closer by. This humpback whale surfaced beautifully and multiple times, coming up only 70 meters away and 4-5 times in a row then arched its magnificently large body going for a deeper dive lasting only 5 minutes each time. We were able to see it raise its majestic fluke high into the air and go for a dive. After waiting slightly longer it suddenly surfaced just a meter or so from the boat! It then surfaced again less than three meters and again only 10 meters from the boat it was truly spectacular! After an amazing encounter we sailed back to Reykjavik it the lovely Icelandic sunshine.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: The weather was perfect for this afternoon tour with sunshine and flat-calm seas. Within only half an hour we spotted our first marine mammal of the tour... a minke whale! The dark back of this animal was clearly visible in the rays of the sunshine and as we got closer we managed to watch it surface twice more before then going on a deeper dive. This animal had relatively short surface intervals of less than 3 minutes allowing us to watch it surface and dive on several occasions all around the boat and with fantastic photo opportunities of the animal against the backdrop of Reykjavik. After over 15 minutes with this animal we decided to head out further into the bay in search of more wildlife. We heard from another boat that a humpback whale was in the area but about 35 minutes away. We decided that the journey was definitely worth it and were rewarded on the way with 2-3 harbour porpoises surfacing nearby. These animals jumped playfully around the boat and we caught several more glimpses of these animal as we edged closer to the last known coordinates of the humpback whale. We were even able to see a pod of white-beaked dolphins around 200 m away. Over 1 km away we spotted the first sign of a humpback whale - the impressive blow from the animal! We saw a further three blows before the outline of the dark back as it went for a deeper dive. As we got closer we were able to witness this animal surface within less than 30 m of the boat! It even showed us its magnificent tail fluke before going on a deeper dive. Although already running out of time we stayed with this animal for another two surface and dives - even catching a glimpse of the humpbacks "rainblow" (a rainbow in the blow!). As we headed back towards Reykjavik we even saw a harbour porpoise leap several metres out of the water - something I have never witnessed before! A fantastic tour with all 4 of our most frequent cetacean species spotted and glorious weather conditions to boot!
- Darcy Philpott
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Although the wind had picked up slightly since this morning the sea surface had gotten remarkably still, almost mirror-calm, which made for fantastic sighting conditions. We had only been going a half hour when we heard that a fellow whale watching boat 1 km ahead of us had a whale, so we headed in that direction but were quickly interrupted by a minke whale popping up 200 m in front of us! This individual was surfacing very calmly often within 100 m away, always lifting the rostrum out first, diving for about 3 minutes at a time. As we were watching this individual we could also see a second minke whale 300 m behind us with the other boat, so the area was likely teeming with their prey. One of our naturalists on board recognised the two notches in the dorsal fin of this minke as an individual known as "Shark" which has been seen for many years in the bay. Great to have a returning whale when re-sight rate has been so low this summer! We started to head out further in the bay when another smaller minke surfaced near the boat, however this individual was acting more elusively so we continued further out. Although we did not see any other species apart from many close-ups of birds such as puffins we saw a further 2 minke whales on our way back, all of them glistening in the sunshine. How wonderful to see so many minke whales in the bay!
- Ophelie Humphrey
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: What a lovely tour we had this morning! Sailing out in Faxaflói we headed North and hugged the shoreline of the Bay for about 40 min until we spotted a big blow a few hundred meters away from us. Soon we got closer to the animal which turned out to be a humpback whale! It was a rather unpredictable individual that always came up in different directions and sometimes going for quite long dives. However, since we found it rather early in the tour, we had time to spent with it and got to see it very close to the boat a few times as a reward to be so patient. At some point it started feeding underneath a small flock of arctic terns. And in the end of the encounter, we finally got to see a nice fluke-up as well as it was raising its tail out of the water! That´s what we had been waiting for the whole time! After another whale watching boat had joined us and then left the area, we heard the news from its Captain that they saw a minke whale not far away from us. Therefore, we headed over in to that direction and then saw even two minke whales in front of us! One of them was quite far away, about 700 m, the other one, however, was only about 100 m away and then decided to come even closer. For about 15 min we could watch this minke whale just traveling next to us and if it was doing nothing else all day - prefect! And since we saw both the minke and also the humpback not far away from Reykjavík we got to enjoy these animals almost the entire tour. When we left the minke whale, we only were about 20 min away from the harbour. One of the most enjoyable and relaxing tours I´ve had so far this summer! :-)
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: Sun and warmth ! Now that's a combo we did not have for a while. Needless to say, we were in a great mood for our departure. There still was a slight wind coming from North-East, but it was a pleasant morning to be out at sea. We had to sail a while before meeting our first cetacean, there was a significant number of arctic terns and black-backed gulls fishing in the water but at first no whales. After 1 hour of patient scanning of the bay, we finally met our first minke whale. And small one, it was a juvenile ! Due to its size and its quickness, this individual proven to be tricky to follow. We managed to steal some glances but after 10 minutes we lost it. Not disheartened in the least, we began to move again, and it was not long before we find a second, significantly bigger minke whale. And more relaxed as well ! This one was surfacing slowly and frequently, never going underwater and leaving us for too long. On multiple occasions it surfaced less than 80 m from the boat, so everyone could have great looks ! When we reached the end of our remaining time in the area, we slowly began our way back home. Before we reached the first wall of the harbour, we came a cross 2 different pods of 2-4 harbour porpoises. Unfortunately they were too quick and shy and disappeared right away, so only few passengers could sight them. But the incredible weather and the memories of the nice minke whales made up for that. It was a fine way to start the day !
- Guillaume Calcagni
Birds seen on today´s tours: atlantic puffin, arctic tern, northern gannet, arctic skua, common guillemot, lesser black-backed gull, black-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar, black guillemot, cormorant
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on another beautiful day. It is very calm at sea in the morning, but the wind might pick up a little bit in the evening. We hope you are able to join us today to look for these amazing giants in they're natural environment
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