Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: It promised to be a beautiful sunset with sunshine and some soft grey clouds in the sky. There was barely any wind so the water was quite flat and soon after we sailed out we started spotting harbour porpoises. Throughout our trip we regularly saw harbour porpoises surfacing not far from the boat. After about an hour sail we spotted a minke whale, the animal turned out to be very elusive and we did not see it come up again. We heard from the captain of another boat that they had spotted a humpback whale and we decided to sail to the area where they encountered the animal. The humpback whale was great coming close to the boat a number of times giving us the chance to follow it underwater. To add a little more spectacle, it decided to come up right next to the boat and start tail lobbing. Unfortunately we were not able to spend much time with the animal because we had a long trip ahead of us getting back to Reykjavik. Luckily we were able to enjoy an amazing sunset and some good entertainment for our homeward journey.
- Anouk
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The sun was still shinning bright during this evening tour and the sea was still quite flat. We spotted our first cetaceans after 40 minutes, a minke whale surfacing 300 m from the boat. This minke was unfortunately a bit elusive and only surfaced two times, instead we could embrace the breath of it. The lovely smell of rotten fish! The sailing on this trip was very pleasant, but where were the cetaceans hiding? After a long search we needed to start heading back to Reykjavik and with only 25-30 minutes sailing left to harbour, we spotted another minke whale 400 m away from us. We decided to be a bit late to the harbour and stayed with this individual for a couple of minutes. The researchers on board managed to identify the whale and it was Húski that was joining us this evening! The minke whale that was most frequently seen last summer. So great to see him again and I think every passenger was happy to have made a new friend here in Iceland. See you out there again Húski!
- Johanna Bergman
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: It was a beautifully sunny and calm afternoon as we left for the second tour of the afternoon. We barely had time to introduce the clock system we use on board to point out everything we see on our tours before we slowed down for the first time. Some other boats had spotted a minke whale and soon we managed to see it as well. The other boats had left the area and we got to enjoy the whale on our own for a good while. Even though it was moving fast and changing direction quite frequently we got some nice looks. In search of something else we headed further out and got to see two more friendly minke whales before we turned around. On the way back we found a small pod of white-beaked dolphins - unfortunately they were quite elusive though and after getting some short looks at them we had to keep heading back as we were already late to return...
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: We set sail on a beautiful sunny afternoon with a wonderful flat sea. After sailing for only 15 minutes a minke whale surfaced only 200 meters away. We saw this minke surface multiple times before going for a longer dive. It surfaced many more times before we decided to travel out into the bay to find some other animals. After only 20 minutes of searching another minke whale surfaced just 100 meters from the boat and then another. The two minke whales then surfaced in sequence, coming up many times only 75 meters away at times. It was such a fantastic experience to see these animals travelling in a pair as they are usually solitary animals. After enjoying this marvellous sight it was time to head back to Reykjavik in the beautiful Icelandic sun!
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: What a stunning morning, warm and sunny day with perfect sea conditions. It took us only 30 minutes until we found a minke whale. It was travelling slowly in this area and kept the same direction through almost the whole encounter. This allowed us to get an amazing view of it when we travelled side by side with this animal! When we were within 100 meters distance it seemed like it changed directions and it came towards us, we shut down the engines waited. It must have swam under the boat as it surfaced next on the other side only few meters away! After this encounter we saw two pods of white beaked dolphins, one had only 2 individuals and the other 6. The larger group had two small calves that travelled side by side their mothers.
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: Today looked like a beautiful day to go whale watching and so we headed out on Eldey this morning. It didn’t take a very long time, after app. 40 minutes we came across a minke whale inbetween several flocks of feeding birds. Unfortunately, we only got to see it twice, it stayed underwater for a very long time, probably feeding closer to the sea floor. Since we were running out of patience, we moved on and looked for something more interesting to watch. After a short while we found a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins that was later joined by two more individuals. The dolphins changed their behavior a lot, sometimes speeding up and traveling fast, sometimes grouping together, going for short dives and then coming up behind us. We were able to spend some time with them so that everyone could see this beautiful dolphin species very well, before we headed over to another minke whale! This one was more whale watching-friendly and come always up three times after 2-4 minute dives. Since it was keeping a constant direction, we could follow it for a long time and watch it heading closer towards Reykjavík! On our way back to the harbor we encountered one more minke whale and also 2 small pods of a total of about 6 harbor porpoises.
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today tours include: northern fulmar, arctic tern, glaucous gull, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake, black-headed gull, atlantic puffin, common guillemot, manx shearwater, arctic skua, and eider duck.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful sunny day. Hope you will be able to join us for the search of these wonderful and majestic animals in their natural environment
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