THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST 2016

Tour at 19:00

Report from Skrudur: Bright sun for our departure, but also westerly wind, meaning the passengers sitting at the bow of the boat got showered a bit on this trip. For the comfort of everybody, we seeked protection and sailed close to land looking for whales, until we reached Akranes and then we turned for an easier sailing. At about half of the tour, we spotted a large blow in the distance. We had already strong presumptions, and when we got closer we could confirm that this was a humpback whale ! We had to be really patient this individual was taking regular 8 minutes long deep dives, but eventually it surfaced several time within 50m to our boat ! Everybody could have a close looks, so being persistent paid off. When it was time, we headed back home with the evening sun in our back. Great scenery for a relax sailing.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: On this tour we found a humpback whale with which we stayed for longer time. The animal was traveling, surfacing just twice and making long dives, but it kept same traveling direction and allowed us to follow it at nice distance so all the passengers could see it and make good photos of it. On the way back, we saw a harbour porpoise, which was traveling toward us, surfacing with it´s full body above sea surface so the passengers who were able to saw this small fast animal, had a good look at it. It was beautifully sunny day and great visibility so we were also enjoying in the view of landscape surrounding us and many different bird species fishing. 

-Tena Sarcevic

Tour at 14:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in very nice weather and although it got a bit cold we had the over-alls to keep us warm. We had been sailing for a while when another whale watching boat told us they had seen a humpback whale so we headed in that direction but when we got there it had gone for a deeper dive. We waited for a while but didn't see it resurface so we decided to keep looking and then we got news about a minke whale not far away. When we got there it turned out to be a humpback whale and after surfacing close to the boat it started pec-slapping so it felt like it was waving at us. It came up five to seven times between deeper dives which lasted about 8 minutes so we were able to get a good look at it. We stayed with it until it was time to go home but as we were leaving it breached! Twice! A very nice tour with a pec-slapping and breaching humpback whale!

- Bryndís Ösp 

Tour at 13:00

Report from Elding: When we sailed out the weather was still nice and sunny and there was almost no wind so the weather conditions were great. After 45 minutes sailing we spotted a group of three Atlantic white beaked dolphins. They were moving fast and seemed to be travelling but luckily we managed to get some close up views of these beautiful animals. We decided to leave the dolphins and a bit later we saw a minke whale, we saw the animal surfacing many times a few times even within a 100 meters of the boat. On our way back we spotted a humpback whale but when we got close the animal went for a deep dive and stayed under the water for such a long time that we were not able to wait for it to resurface.

-Anouk de Plaa

Tour at 10:00

Report from Eldey: We set sail on a beautiful sunny day with little wind and only a little swell. It was a nice sail out and we were able to enjoy the beautiful Icelandic landscape which surrounded us. A few puffins were spotted on the waters surface as well as flying right passed us, a few clasping sand eels in their mouths. After searching for a long time we spotted a minke whale far in the distance and headed towards it. When much closer this minke whale surfaced multiple times, changing its direction on many occasions allowing the passengers to get a bit of a workout as they viewed the whales. After a last beautiful surface sequence it arched its sleek back and we started to sail back to harbour. 

- Tess Hudson

Tour at 9:00

Report from Elding: Although it was a sunny day and the sea was not choppy, it was a bit difficult to find cetaceans in the largest bay of Iceland today. After about an hour from sailing out of the harbor we found cetacean - a minke whale. Soon we realized there were 2 individuals in the same area. The animals were feeding; surfacing just one to two times and diving for around 11 minutes. However, we had a good look at them as they were surfacing close to our boat and we were at the prefect position to see them when they would surface up. There was even a harbour porpoise in the same area, surfacing few times in a row, just next to our boat, once on the right side and once on the left side of the boat, so most of the passengers were able to see it nicely.

-Tena Sarcevic

 

Bird species seen on today's tour include: arctic skua, northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, atlantic puffin, arctic tern, northern fulmar, common guillemot, lesser black-backed gull

 

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a nice sunny day. Because of the wind last night there could be some swells out on Faxabay and movement on the boat.