STATUS: RUNNING
We are going out from the Old harbour in Reykjavik on this cold but bright day. It is relatively calm outside and the sun is trying to burst out from the clouds. Please contact our office via telephone +354 5195000 if you want to join us for any of todays tours.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The sun was shining and it was relatively warm as we set sail out into Faxafloi bay. The wind had picked up slightly from the morning tour so spotting was a bit more tricky. We searched for a fairly long time before we were able to locate our first species. In the distance a few fins were spotted and once closer we were able to identify these as a small pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins. We observed these animals for some time however, they were a bit difficult to spot as they were coming up rather sporadically and went for long dives. After some time it was decided to move on and search for something else. After some time more large dorsal fins were spotted in the distance and we were able to enjoy more white-beaked dolphin. These individuals were much more playful coming only 5 meters away at times, We were able to get a much better view of these animals and were able to see one even leap out of the water! We were then able to experience the wonderful winds of Iceland as we sailed back to harbour.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: Like yesterday, the sea conditions were quite nice this morning even though we had to deal with strong winds coming from the south. The first cetaceans we encountered on this tour were harbour porpoises, a group of 6-8 individuals. We got a pretty nice look at them feeding underneath a small flock of feeding northern gannets and Iceland gulls, they were going back and forth in all directions just 50 m from the boat. After a few minutes we moved on to find something bigger. Next, a couple of white-beaked dolphins were spotted, but only I, the guide, saw them in the binoculars and we never actually good to see them. However, as we were heading into the direction to find them, we ended up with a minke whale in front of the boat. It came up right in front of us, just about 70 m away from us, so even though we only saw it twice before it went for a dive, I hope most of our passengers already got to see it. This individual may have been a minke whale we call "Humpie" since it had a dorsal fin that looked a lot like the fin of a humpback whale. After waiting for it to come up again without success, we moved on and headed towards another whale watching boat that was also waiting for a minke whale to return to the surface. It took us a while but we got some looks at this small whale, even though it only came up 1-2 times between dives. However, it stayed in the area where it may have been feeding which made it a bit easier to follow. Before returning to the harbour we continued our search for a bit more and saw finally a group of 7-8 white-beaked dolphins! Like the minke whales, they also stayed under water a few times but also came close to the boat so everyone could see their white beaks and the white stripe along their bodies. On our way back to Reykjavik, we saw another minke whale 2 times but I guess that only the passengers that had remained outside got a glimpse at it - it always pays off to stay outside.
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, kittiwake, Iceland gull, lesser black-backed gull, eider duck, common guillemot, and cormorant.
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