Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a beautiful day. It´s a little cold in the morning but we have warm overalls for everybody. Hope you will be able to join us on the search for the whales
Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: The sea conditions and weather were once again perfect in the late afternoon and we could quickly and easily spot harbour porpoises all around the boat. We lost count of the number of these tiny animals we saw during our tour. We met at least five pods ranging from two to six individuals and showing all kind of behaviors. We even saw one logging at the surface and others jumping out of the water. In the middle of all these small cetaceans we encountered four minke whales including a large individual which remained quite close to our boat. Even if they stayed fairly far from one another we managed to see the four animals surface at the same time once around the boat, a rare sighting. Once the sun went out in a beautiful sunset Bjarni started playing his music and entertained us all along our way back to Reykjavik.
- Rémi Bigonneau
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Awesome weather better dolphins!we happened to see a big pod of white-beaked dolphins with at least 15 individuals and also some calves with them!at least I counted 3. Really beautiful encounter. The animals were a bit nervous because of the calves and our presence so we left them in peace right after we realized that was happening. We also encountered 3 minke whales at least. One duo which was traveling alongside each other and also a solitary one in the same area. We also spotted at least other 2 more minkes on the way back home. We saw at least 3 pods of harbour porpoises with at least 3 individuals each. They were leaping out of the water sometimes! it was really nice to watch!
- Jorge Pascual
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: Another nice tour in beautiful sea conditions. We started off with a group of around 20 harbour porpoises feeding in front of the boat. Cool to see the harbour porpoises so active before we came across a group of around 20 white-beaked dolphins including many curious calves and juveniles area that were very playful and jumped and checked us out. Adorable animals! Then we went to look for something bigger and ended up searching a very long time for a minke whale but it worked out in the end! We saw one individual that sometimes surfaced within 50 min from the boat and we could listen to its blow! A good tour in surprisingly good sea conditions and sun shining upon us!
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: It was a beautiful sunny day as we set off into Faxafloi bay. The sea was wonderfully flat and there was hardly any wind. As we sailed we searched for cetaceans and after some time a minke whale surfaced in front of us only 100 meters away. This minke surfaced multiple times all the way around the boat. Coming up only 15 meters away at times. It was so nice to see this animal surface so many times and all round the boat. We could even see and hear it's large blow. After watching this animal for some time it was decided to move out further into the bay to search for some other animals. After only a short time we saw splashes in the distance and moving towards these a small pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins were spotted. These animals were amazing!! Coming up to us and swimming right under the boat. Surfacing multiple times and so amazing close. We were able to identify one of our favorite regular dolphins called Montgomery and his pal Lu another regular dolphin to the bay. As they swam under the waters surface. Unfortunately, as time was running out we had to leave these amazing animals to start heading back to harbour. But as we did so two pods of harbour porpoises popped up only 50 meters. We were able to get a fairly good look as this animal as they leaped out of the waters surface. Continuing on our journey only ten meters later a minke surfaced 300 meters in front. We watched this animal a few times before it went for a longer dive. The lovely sun was still shining as we made our way back into the harbour.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: The weather and sea conditions were just fantastic as we sailed out of the harbour. We headed straight to an area were Eldey had told us they saw a very nice whale. And it was no lies, a beautiful minke whale was showing no signs of shyness. The large individual was quietly surfacing very often and sometimes close to our boat. We kept following it until another small individual crossed our path and got us confused between the two minke whales. We left the animals alone and started sailing further out where we met a nice pod of about four harbour porpoises. The perfect sea conditions allowed us to have a good look at the small cetaceans before we left to meet another minke whale. After following the animal around for a while we headed back to Reykjavik and on our way encountered a nice pod of six white-beaked dolphins. The cetaceans were really playful and it was a delight to see them riding our waves, breaching fully out of the water and come very close to the boat. The sea was so clear that we could see their entire body!
- Rémi Bigonneau
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: What a day!lovely weather and very active passengers on the morning tour. It did not take long until we found the first cetacean. Maybe 15 minutes after we left the harbour the first pod of 5-6 harbour porpoises showed up. The sea conditions were great for whale-watching!. We could see them very well as we were heading out in order to find other species. About 10 minutes later we came across a really nice minke whale! very curious individual we thought it was a sei whale. Very large individual. It was close to 11 meters long. After some discussions between the guiding box and the bridge we figured out it was a very large minke. After having a really good and long look at it we kept our way further out. Another minke whale showed up too!way smaller than the first one but almost as curious and docile as the big one. Lovely animal to end a brilliant tour!
- Jorge Pascual
Birds seen on the tour: european shag, northern fulmar, sooty shearwater, Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, kittiwake, northern gannet and a pigeon landed on Elding during the 19:00 tour!
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