Sunday, 14 August 2016

Tours at 17:00 and 1900 unfortunately cancelled due to rough seas and strong winds. 

Tour at 14:00

Report from Eldey: WHAT A TOUR!! The weather was turning, wind and rain picing up. On this tour we decided to travel more to the south. We had been out about an hour when we were told from another whale watching vessel about a pod of white-beaked dolphins. We didn't make it that far because our awesome spotter deckhand Darcy spotted a big breach behind us. It turned out to be a breaching minke whale. It was amazing, minke whale do not breach (jump out of the water) that often in our bay. Maybe 2-3 times during teh summer. Sometimes they only breach once so you are unable to get pictures. We had a unique tour spending at least 40 minutes with the minke whale and it was breached at least 20-30 times. I (the guide - megan) has been working for elding for 8 summers now and only from this tour was I able to get a close, in focus picture and the minke whales are my favourite species. A tour to remember. Whoo hoo

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: The weather had changed for the worst and it was a strong wind from southeast. It also rained during the whole tour so we all onboard used the overalls that we offer for free on our boats. Observations were scarce and we had short encounters with minke whales during the tour but it was more or less only the guide that saw them and then they were gone. This happened three times. At the end we could join another whale watching boat and see a pod of 7-12 white-beaked dolphins. We got some good views of the dolphins before we had to turn back. Due to the short time with the dolphins and the rough weather we decided to give out complimentary tickets so passengers can return for another tour with hopefully better weather and better observations. Over and out!

- Marcus Bergström

Tour at 10:00

Report from Eldey: The calm before the storm, sea conditions were very good this morning, overcast sky and fine rain. Not the more pleasant weather but very good spotting contions. We had to go very far offshore and got word from another whale watching vessel about some white-beaked dolphins. Unfortunetly, these could not be found but we soon found others, First lot were very elusive only seeing a black dorsal fin but nothing else but after another 20 mintutes we spotted a pod of at least 5-6 white-beaked dolphins traveling fast, feeding we presume. Suddenly they came straight towards us and one started breaching and two others played for at least 20 minutes under and around the boat. It was is an incredible experience to get an encounter like this from wild animals. You could see them turn their bodies to look up at the excited passengers. Wonderful encounter. 

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 09:00 

Report from Eldey: The weather was better than expected, the forecast showed strong wind and rain but on this tour we had flat sea and almost no wind. We knew that might change on the tour so we enjoyed the nice weather while it lasted. after about 30 minutes we spotted splashes in a great distance far north. These were splashes made by jumping dolphins! It took us a while to get to the dolphins but when we arrived in the area we saw these were a least 50 white beaked dolphins! We got an amazing show with breaching, bow riding dolphins. We got great looks at the animals while they swam right next to our boat so close to the surface so we could see their whole bodies through the water. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, manx shearwater, great skua, arctic skua, lesser black-backed gull, greater black-backed gull, herring gull, black-headed gull, kittiwake, glaucous gull, arctic tern, common guillemot, puffin, razorbill and eider duck. 

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the old harbor in Reykjavík today. The sea might be a little choppy but the day is looking very promising. Hopefully you will be able to join us today to see these magnificent giants !