MONDAY, 15 MAY 2017

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: While we thought the wind picked up, it actually ended up being very nice out on the water. The clouds made the ocean that good coulour for spotting the darker coloured whales and dolphins. Once we had gotten a good distance away from the harbour, we already started seeing a lot of birdlife all around us. There were numerous Puffins, but also species such as the Northern Fulmar, the Manx Shearwater, Arctic Terns, Common Guillemots and the beautiful Northern Gannets were there in numbers. They were gliding through the air or swimming on the water surface nice and close for everyone to see. Just some minutes later, we started seeing the first 3-4 Harbour porpoises. They were rather elusive, however, so we only caught a short glimpse of their few surfaces. But only a little while after, we found our first pod of around 5 White-beaked dolphins! They didn´t seem to like the presence of the boat much so decided to leave them. One could say, luckily we did, as right after we came across a pod of probably 12 White-beaked dolphins, of which two were calves, so still very small and playful. They stayed with the boat for around 15 minutes, diving from one side to the other. Just as we thought they were leaving us and we had already turned the boat around, they surfaced again, entertaining us for another 15 minutes. Once we started heading back to the harbour in Reykjavík, we suddenly had a short glimpse of a Minke whale surfacing just next to the boat. This was a very elusive Minke whale and so we only saw it surface this one time.

Nonetheless, the sea was nice and calm, there was no rain and we got a good look at Harbour porpoises and especially at the White-beaked dolphins with their calves. An amazing way to experience wildlife in their natural habitat!!

- Sabrina Voswinkel

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out from the old harbour of Reykjavik and were welcomed by a very calm sea. Although it was slightly cloudy, we had an amazing view on the surrounding landscape, which was partly covered by beautiful cloud formations. Despite the good visibility it took us about an hour to spot the first cetaceans of our tour: In some distance we saw a pod of about 3-5 White-beaked Dolphins travelling by. But as they were swimming quite fast and seemed to be on the move to another area, we did not try to follow them. And this turned out to be the right decision as only a few minutes later we spotted a Minke Whale in some distance. However, this individual seemed to be rather elusive surfacing only a few times and since other boats also approached the area we decided to leave and sail further out to another area. And not much later we were awarded another Minke Whale.  This one seemed to be a younger individual very interested in us. It surfaced many times close to the boat, easy to spot and photograph. Once it even surfaced just ONE meter away on the right side of the boat. There, it took two very long breaths and due to the clear water we could see its body in all its beauty. What an experience! As Minke Whales often go for dives of several minutes we were very lucky to also have some Harbour Porpoises around in the same area, which popped up here and there and made the time waiting for our Minke very enjoyable. Just before we headed back home, our crew spotted another pod of White-beaked Dolphins. Since this pod was swimming slowly, we approached them carefully and got a good look at them and could even see two calves among them. What a finish of a great tour!

- Nicole Koestner

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: Finally a very nice day to be out on the water. blue skies and not too windy. It was very warm on the way out into the bay this morning. It was a long while of bird watching and photographing the landscape before viewing our first cetacean (whale, dolphin or  porpoise). It was another vessel that headed to a different location on their way out that spotted a pod of white-beaked dolphins, a pod of 10-12 individuals with their babies. It was adorable these tiny little guys with their mums. We were about to watch them for at least 20-30 minutes and it got even more beautiful when a rainbow formed and created a nice photograph. We had to head home after them and on the way had a quick but good glance at a minke whale. It would of course be nice to see more individuals in our peak whale watching season but this is why watching wildife is so interesting, keeping us all on our toes. Learning more every time we watch them. The variety of seabirds was also great, plenty of keen birders onboard enjoying the diversity.

- Megan Whittaker

Bird species seen today include: Northern Fulmar, Atlantic Puffin, Arctic Tern, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Common Guillemot, Northern Gannet, Manx Cheerwater, Eider Duck

Tour Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. If you are sensitive to motion sickness we do provide seasickness tablets, free of charge! Hope you will be able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.