Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The good conditions kept promising us beautiful sightings as we well sailing out into the Faxa Bay. We had cetaceans almost from the beginning and they didn't stop showing up until the very end of the tour! First, a pod of 5-6 white beaked dolphins appeared, and although curious at the beginning they kept usually the distances with us since there was a calf among them. After that we got news from the humpback whale we were watching in the previous tour, so we went straight forward to watch again the individual - and we found it! The animal was surfacing gently for a while, at the most likely started to feed on the bottom. We could say that because the surfacing pattern. Only breathing once and then going for a deep dive. But it didn't matter, since then the minke whales appeared (more than 10? we really lost the count, it was amazing!) Along with some harbour porpoises popping out of the water here and then. So a beautiful 4 out of 4 species tour to end a marvelous day of adventure at the sea!
- Alberto Alejandro
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: What an afternoon!! Sun was shining, no wind at all and calm sea were the perfect combination of factors for a wonderful trip and indeed it was! We headed our boat almost till the entrance of Hvalfjörður were we spotted a pod of white-beaked dolphins, they were swimming quietly and we were even able to see few calves with them. After a while of amusement, we decided to try our best and we went to the opposite direction of Faxafloi, in front of Hafnarfjordur, because we had good news from other boats related to a playful whale. It took a lot of time to reach that point but in the way we saw a couple of harbour porpoises doing their best and eluding any contact with us. Also, we noticed a fast Minke whale traveling in the distance but we decided to keep our plan and seek for this mysterious whale. As soon as we arrived to the point we could see almost immediately a Humpback whale. But it wasn't a normal encounter, the Humpback wanted to show all her repertoire and we witnessed how she was lob-tailing, doing pectoral flapping, spy-hopping and fluking! We were speechless during our sighting, amazed by the magnificent of this whale. With the good weather still with us, we returned to the harbour after an incredible trip.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: As on our previous tour, weather and sea conditions remaind fantastic. While we were sailing out, we were once again met by lots of sea birds. This time, we even saw a couple of gannets, which seem a little rarer these days. On our way out we spotted two harbour porpoises, however they remained elusive and we continued sailing. After we spotted some feeding sea birds, we spotted our first minke whale. This was one of many we were going to see on the trip. It was actually difficult to tell how many minkes we spotted on this trip, but the researchers and I believe that it was about 5 individuals. Some popped up relatively close to us, while others were only spotted from a distance. On our way to a humpback whale that the whale watching boat Andrea spotted we saw another pod of about 4 harbour porpoises, however this time, they surfaced a few times, good to see for most people on board. We also saw another minke on the way, but as we had prioritiesed the humpback we went directly to Andrea. As we got to Andrea, the humpback was literraly right next to the vessel. It was very calm, sometimes even spyhopping next to the boat. This was a truely amaizing experience and everyone on board got a good look at the whale, as well as at some of their behaviors. Sadly, once again, we had not enough time to stay with the humpback for longer, so we had to turn around. Still, the conditions were great and we had a enjoyable way back.
- Friedrich Rittner
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: It was a fantastic day for whale watching this morning when we set off, with the sun beaming down at us as we left the harbour. There were no waves at all and the visibility was amazing. Not too far outside the harbour we encountered 2 harbour porpoises, but they weren´t feeling very friendly so they didn´t stick around for very long. Our attention was soon grabbed by a huge flock of birds however, so we headed there and were greeted by 2 minke whales! They appeared to be feeding in the same area. After hearing reports of a humpback whale in the area, we headed off in that direction and were rewarded with the animal surfacing right next to the boat and then slow-motion diving right at our bow. Not long after the humpback disappeared, we soon headed off to another frenzied flock of birds where we were delighted to see another minke whale, this time obviously feeding just below the surface. Not long after leaving this whale we had to return to harbour, but we all came away smiling after such an exhilarating trip.
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The conditions today could not have been better. Sunshine as well as a calm sea made for perfect conditions to go whale watching. While we were waiting for our first sighting, we enountered lots of sea birds including arctic terns and northern fulmars. Suddenly, a pod of about 3 harbour porpoises showed up in front of us, but didn't stick around for very long. After about 1 hour of our tour we sighted a minke whale. This minke was a bit elusive and difficult to spot with only short surface times, but after about 10 to 20 minutes we sopotted another two minke whales 500m away. Once we spotted and got closer to these two, there were minkes almost everywhere. It was difficult to point out where to look, as we had one in front of us, one behind us and another one on our the side. Even though the minkes never got too close to our boat, everyone got a good look at them and we were able to move on to look for more different species. Sailing further in the direction of the rykjanes peninsula, some other whale watching boats had sighted a humpback whale, so we decided to join them. As we got closer, we were able to spot the humpback whale from about 200m away. We still got a good look at it and even saw its fluke twice. While we were waiting for the humpback to resurface, we still saw some minke whales pop up here and there, but as we were slowly running out of time, we had to start our way back. It was a great tour and as we had such beautiful weather, even the way back was very enjoyable.
- Friedrich Rittner
Bird species seen on today´s trips include: northern gannets, atlantic puffins, razorbill, arctic skuas, great skuas, common guillemots, black guillemots, lesser black-backed gulls, great black-back gull, common gull and black-legged kittiwakes.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on this beautiful and sunny day. Hope you are able to join us on our search of there magnificent animals in their natural environment
