Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: WHAT a tour!! Words cannot express how awesome this tour was! On heading out the sea was lovely and flat but there was a very thick fog, Which made seeing far in the distance very difficult. Although, we couldn't´t see far into the distance, up close there were numerous birds to see, such as the charismatic atlantic puffin, which was present for the whole tour! And I mean the whole tour! Everywhere you looked there was a puffin or two or four! After searching for some time in the fog, it slowly began to fade away giving rise to the most wonderful sunset, it was at this point our first specie was spotted. A minke whale surfaced just a few hundred meters in front of us, and while we were waiting for that one to re-surface another popped up on the other side of the boat! This animal surfaced a few times before it went for a longer dive. While we were waiting for this animal to come up again we enjoyed watching the amazing northern gannets plunge diving to catch their dinner. When suddenly, we saw a large splash in the distance, followed by a tail. We then watched in awe as a huge body form emerged from the waters surface and crashed back down! This animal surfaced about a kilometer from where we were located so we headed off in the direction of the splash. On entering the area we saw a large blow followed by a humped back. Which could only be a humpback whale. This animal surfaced multiple times in between feeding under the surface. As it was only going for short dives it didn´t need to raise its tail or fluke out of the water. The animal continued to feed for some time and as time was running low it was decided we should start heading back to harbour. It was at this point the humpback decided to go for a wonderful deep dive right in front of us, just meters from the boat! Smiles, claps and cheers erupted from the boat as it did so, what an epic way to say goodbye! As we headed back we were high on life and thought our whale watching was done for the day.....but it wasn´t! Just ahead of us a large pod of 14 white-beaked dolphins rose out of the waters surface and swam straight for us, surfacing wonderfully close. Again we had to leave these wonderful animals after a few minutes of watching them but we all got a fantastic look at this species. But apparently that was not good enough! As just five minutes later, yet another pod of dolphins surfaced just a few meters ahead and began frolicking at the front of the boat. And to top it off a minke whale was also spotted 200 meters in the distance. What an Amazing day in Faxa bay!!
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Today we sailed out into a very calm sea. Despite some clouds in the distance the visibility was very good. After only about 30 min, we spotted a Minke Whale in some distance and briefly after the first we saw a second individual in another direction. Unfortunately, both individuals only surfaced twice before the disappeared for long dives and were not seen again. Thus, we continued our trip, heading further out. The passengers got to enjoy the peaceful sea and some seabirds around the vessel. After a while we saw another Minke Whale surfacing in some distance in front of our boat. And this individual presented its beauty not only in the distance but also surfaced a couple of times just a few meters away from us, so that most of our passengers had a very good look. But this was not everything from the Minke Whale side today. During our tour we saw a few more individuals in the distance and another one very close to the ship. All in all, it was a great tour, where the animals reminded us that we are looking at wildlife and cannot predict their exact behaviour: Some animals are rather shy and elusive while others are curious and do not mind to be very close to our vessel.
- Nicole Koestner
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: It was a lovely sunny day as we set off into the bay, the sea was fairly calm and the wind not too strong. It didn´t take us too long to find cetaceans today after only a short while a very large pseudo-pod of approximately 30 white-beaked dolphins were spotted just up ahead, We were able to get such an incredibly close look at this species as they surfaced and dove just meters away! We were able to watch these beautiful animals for sometime as well as more pods in the distance. So as not to disturb these animals for too long it was decided to head off further into the bay to search for some other animals. And lucky for us more were found!! First we came across a pod of 4 harbour porpoises, who surfaced a few times before going for a deep dive. Later on we spotted a minke whale surface, bringing its large body up for a large breath. This animal then went for a deep dive so it was decided to look for some other animals. On which two more minkes were spotted, which we were able to enjoy before heading back to the harbour. What a lovely start to the day!
- Tess Hudson
Birds species on todays tours: kittiwake, glacous gull, icelandic gull, black-backed gulls, arctic turn, northern gannet, black guillemot, common guillemot, arctic skua, razor bill, eider duck and arctic puffin.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on this beautiful sunny day. Hope you will be able to join us on our search of these magnificent animals in their natural environment
