Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful day. There is very little wind in the Faxabay but there might still be some swell in the ocean. We hope you can join us out at sea to find these magnificent giants!
Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: The sea conditions hadn´t got better since the last time I wrote the diary. The thing that got way better was the light! these tours are my favourite ones! After 20 minutes of sailing we spotted our first cetacean. The minke whale! this one was most likely feeding because of its erratic moves in the water. Right after we saw a second one! this one was, in my opinion, traveling. It followed a straight line most of the time. We sailed parallel to the animal. We got a good look at it many times and also we could track its flukeprints very easily (patches left on top of the water by the up and down movement of the fluke). We could even smell it!wuhu!very horrible smell yes but, it was an experience after all. Now the passengers we had on board can say they´ve smelled a whale! We went out very far into the bay in order to find more cetaceans but we were not succesful after the minke encounter. What we did see was the northern gannet diving in the water for food. Impressive behaviour we were fortunate to watch. Good midnight tour with very nice music played live by Halli, one of our troubadors on board.
- Jorge Pascual
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The sun had come out and the weather was great when we sailed out of the harbor. During the tour we spotted a group of 7 Atlantic white beaked dolphins. The animals seemed to be chasing fish, making big splashes and moving fast. They came under the boat and the passengers were running from one side of the boat to the other because the animals kept coming up at completely different places. We noticed that there were more white beaked dolphins in the distance and after a while we were surrounded by dolphins swimming quite close on all sides of the boat. Very close to Reykjavik we were also treated to the view of a minke whale surfacing several times in a row.
- Anouk de Plaa
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: When we were sailing out this afternoon, the weather had improved further so that we could even enjoy a little bit of sun. However, the aftermath of yesterday's strong winds were still recognizable in terms of long swells and movement on the boat. But that did not stop our passengers to enjoy the complete three hour journey outside. After about an hour of sailing we saw 3-5 harbour porpoises not far away from the boat. They were a bit elusive so we continued our ride out. A little later then we encountered a pod of 7-9 white-beaked dolphins and could stay with them for over 30 minutes. They were diving under our boat multiple times so that everybody could get very good views of them even under the water surface. When we continued our ride we saw a minke whale in the distance, but could not find it when we arrived at the spot where we had seen it. The minke whale seemed to be quite elusive today so that we had to return to the harbour without seeing it up close. Nevertheless the ride back proved to be exciting with a really big flock of birds flying all around us. A good morning was followed by a good afternoon out at sea.
- Barbara Neubarth
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The sea conditions were still a bit rough when we sailed out but the weather was nice, although a bit cold, so the over-alls were used by many. We had been sailing for a while when we heard of a minke whale nearby but it turned out to be really elusive and hard to follow so when we heard about a pod of white-beaked dolphins we decided to leave the minke whale and go find the dolphins. There were about five of them and they came really close to the boat so we were able to get a good look at them. We stayed with them until it was time to head back to the harbour but on our way back we encountered the minke whale again and we also spotted about 6-10 harbour porpoises but they were pretty shy so we didn't stop for them. A good tour with three species of cetaceans.
- Bryndís Ösp
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: The sea conditions were a bit rough on the way out so we got some seasick people on board. Our crew took care of them very efficiently and things got way better towards the end of the tour. Besides, we caught a glimpse of two minke whales and a pod of 12 feeding white-beaked dolphins. Many northern gannets diving around the boat made our wait easier to handle. What a powerful creature! we could even see the bubbles along their way to the deep in search for fish. The dolphins did even bow ride! a fantastic behavior all the passengers could witness. After 20 minutes with the dolphins we tried to find more species. We waited a bit more in the same spot where the last minke was found but we were not lucky and the animals did not show up. These days minkes are a bit more elusive and they come out of the just once or twice before going for deeper dives. Anyways, a very complete tour with wonderful feeding cetaceans and birds. A nice one to start the morning with!
- Jorge Pascual
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: When we sailed out the sky was overcast but there was very little wind so it was not too cold. When we came out in the bay there was a lot of swell due to the westerly wind that had been blowing the day before. During this tour we spotted a group of 6 Atlantic white beaked dolphins. The animals were great, coming close to the boat and bow riding. When we sailed away from the animals we spotted a minke whale, we did not see the animal resurface unfortunately. On our way home we spotted big splashes in the distance, it was jumping white beaked dolphins and we went to take a look. When we came near the animals stopped their aerial display unfortunately but we did get some more great looks of these beautiful dolphins.
- Anouk de Plaa
Birds species seen today in the bay: northern gannet, atlantic puffin, manx shearwater, arctic skua, northern fulmar, black guillemot, common guillemot, arctic tern.
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