Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: The wind had picked up a little on this tour but for most the boat was cutting through the waves keeping the boat quite stable. It was a long while until we say out first signs of cetaceans, frequent splashes in the distance at least 3-4km on the horizon. Most likely dolphins but as we got closer the splashes stopped, making it more difficult to spot them in the rough, dark seas. We then traveled north to the area a previous boat saw a humpback whale but unfortunately the humpback's could not be found. Instead, minke whales ruled the show with at least 4 individuals showing themselves, including one of our regulars, Humpie. They were moving fast and very difficult to show all our passengers so we decided to offer complimentary tickets in the hope they will have a more successful tour next time. Nonetheless it was a great night with awesome live music, incredible colours to celebrate Gay Pride.
-Megan Whittaker
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: It had cleared up compared to the afternoon when we sailed out this early evening. A sunny sky made the sailing pleasant although the wind had picked up a bit more. We were sailing for over an hour, when some of our passengers spotted a minke whale. However it turned out to be quite elusive so that we continued further out. That is when we saw a big splash about 2 kilometers away close to the blue lagoon. We went there and waited a while but could not find the cetacean. Luckily we saw a humpback whale tail slapping just less than a kilometer behind us. Everybody was really excited when it surfaced only a few meters from the boat. Time constraints made us leave the humpback after 10 minutes and we sailed back to Reykjavik. Everybody was very happy to have seen a humpback so close and being able to enjoy a boat ride in so nice conditions.
- Barbara Neubarth
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: The wind had picked up a lot since the morning bringing on whitecaps in the bay that made spotting conditions hard, however following the morning´s sightings kept us in high hopes. We headed far out to where other whale watching vessels had reports of a whale, and 500 m before we arrived there we heard that a minke whale was nearby! We didn´t get a close look at it but continued to the humpback, where we were able to spend 45 minutes and see this individual 50 m from the boat, feeding just under a flock of birds on the surface and also a spectacular tail lob! Fantastic display from our only cetacean this tour.
- Ophelie Humphrey
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: It was a beautiful sunny day when we set sail into Faxafloi bay. The seas was fairly flat and the wind not to chill. On the way out a small pod of 2-3 harbour porpoises were spotted porpoising out of the surf, we were able to spot them a few times before heading out further into the bay. It took us a long time to search for animals, it was perfect conditions but the animals seemed to be a bit elusive. However, far off in the distance a large blow was spotted, so we headed towards it. Once in the area we slowed down and hoped to see this animal, however, it was not to be as it did not surface for a long time so we decided to head further out into the bay to see if we could spot something else. Just as we were turning we got radio confirmation that the blow we had spotted earlier belonged to a humpback whale, spotted again by another boat. It was decided to try and have another look at this animal. The humpback whale surfaced after only a few minutes and gave us a quick surface sequence before arching its back and going for as deeper dive. As this animal seemed to be going on 8 minute dives and then coming up far away we decided to leave this animal, in addition there were numerous boats in the surrounding area so we decided to leave and try to find something else. Not long after leaving this humpback a minke whale were spotted but it was being very elusive and difficult to follow so we began to head back. However, a further two minke whales were spotted, although again these were elusive and many people did not get to see these beautiful animals. Due to this we decided to offer complimentary tickets. Nevertheless, we had a beautiful sail back in the warming Icelandic Sun.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Species seen include: A nice calm sea before the wind picked up on a beautiful day. It was really nice to head out into Faxabay and very close to land we had a wonderful encounter with a minke whale, it surfaced many times and captain Gusti did a great job with the code of conduct and because of that the minke surfaced just 30 meters from the boat. Clost to minke whale 2-3 harbour porpoises popped up but quite far so not many got to see the. The highlight of the tour was a pod of 15 white-beaked dolphins. They were traveling slowly and were surfacing just meters from the boat. It was really nice to hear them exhale too and surfing in the swells. On the journey home just about 30 minutes from the harbour we found a Humpback whale surfaced a few times but we needed to get back but nice to watch it surface a few times before we did. It was also great to see a nice diversity of seabirds during the tour too; northern gannets, northern fulmars, arctic terns, atlantic puffins, manx shearwaters, black backed gulls, kittiwakes, arcic skuas and many more.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: This morning started off under a beautiful sky with only a bit of wind so that everybody stayed outside to enjoy these great conditions. After only half an hour of sailing we saw our first minke whale about a kilometer away. And as it turned out on our way to the marine mammal we saw two more minke whales way closer by. One was traveling at quite high speed, but the other one surfaced frequently so that everybody could get really nice views of it. We spent a while with this whale before we went out further into the bay. Soon we saw leaping white-beaked dolphins in the distance. When we approached them they stopped leaping, but still showed us their beautiful coloration close by. It turned out to be two pods of at least 5-7 individuals each. After a while we had to turn around and saw another minke whale on the way back. A great morning full of wildlife in Faxa bay.
- Barbara Neubarth
Bird species seen on todays tour: Kittiwake, northern fulmar, black-backed gull, northern gannet, atlantic puffin, manx shearwater, common guillemot, arctic tern, actic skua, eider duck & cormorant.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful day. There is very little wind in the Faxabay and almost no waves. Hope you will be able to join us to try to find these magnificent animals in their natural environment
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