Tour at 9am and 1pm: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. The wind is coming from the South east and there could be some movement on the boat.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: While we thought we reached a peak in this stormy morning, winds decided to not give us any break and even strengthened for our afternoon trip ! Seeing that the weather was not on our side, we sailed closer to Reykjanes, hoping to be sheltered by the land. We indeed had an easier ride with less swell, but the wind was still falling on us with all its might, ubiquitous and omnipotent. It was not an extremely cold wind, but it was powerful enough to raise water masses from the sea surface and spray it on us ! Still, we could enjoy a little bit of sun, some interesting lights on the landscape and were also visited by a brief rainbow. Birds were scarce on this tour, with only few northern gannets, sea gulls and razorbills. Unfortunately, the whales were even rarer, as we did not spot any. Summer season being over, it's not surprising to have more unsuccessful tour, but being still early in the autumn it's tough luck to not sight anything. We offered complimentary tickets for a second time, closing a unlucky day. But eh, we're dealing with wildlife, we know the drill ! All that is left is to try again in the future, hopefully on an easier day.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: We had blustery south-easterly winds this morning, quite comfortable on the way out in the bay but a bit more bumpy on teh way back. Passengers took advantage of the free warm overalls onboard and also the free sea sickness tablets that are sensitive to the motion of the ocean. We were headed straight to the same area that was successful day before last and loved to see the northen gannets plunging everywhere, must have been at least a 100. It took a while before seeing outr first cetacean, a small pod of white-beaked dolphins, only could see 2-3 individuals and they were very difficult to keep track of amongst the splashes made by the gannets. After maybe 5 minutes they were gone. Eventually we had to start making our way back home and when hope was starting to fade a minke whale popped up, only once about 100 meters from the boat, goes to show you that you never know when and where these guys might pop up. Unfortunately only the guide saw it so without any more success we dicided it was best to offer our passengers complimentary tickets (for returning passengers either for Reykjavik whale watching or Akureyri Whale Watching in teh next two years.
-Megan Whittaker
Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannet, sooty shearwaters, manx shearwaters, black-legged kittiwake, razorbill, lesser black-backed gull, great black-backed gull, icelandic gull.
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