Tour at 20:30
Report from Hafsulan: It was a nice evening the sun was even a bit out and as we left the harbour we saw a nice rainbow. It took us a bit of time before spotting our first cetaceans. We got to see a minke whale, but he was a bit elusive and hard to follow. Luckily for us an other minke came up to the boat really close. After we went looking for some other cetaceans we did found an other minke but this was was pretty soon gone. One little harbour porpoise popped up at the boat but was also soon gone. We didn´t get to see much but it was a nice tour, with really nice music on the way back.
- Alexandra Bouman
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: What a true sailing adventure! We went out into the bay with a strong wind but beautiful sunshine. The sea was relatively calm allowing for good spottings. Nevertheless, it took us more than one hour for our first sighting. But then we saw the striking dorsal fin of a minke whale in about 200m distance to the boat. When we approached the animal carefully we could see it a couple of times surfacing at quite some speed as it was most likely travelling into another area. But as it kept its direction it was quite easy to follow it. Thus, we joined it a few minutes so that everyone got a good look at it. Later we encountered a second minke whale which was feeding underneath a flock of feeding seabirds. This individual surfaced three times in less than 50m to the boat creating big blows and showed not only its shiny black back but also its pointed head. That was definitely a nice ending of this sunny tour.
- Nicole Koestner
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The weather definitely turned to the positive for us! We still had a lot of wind and swell, but we had sunshine warming our faces. This made our ride out into Faxafloi very pleasant and we got into an area with a lot of birds around, diving into the ocean and feeding. Only a few minutes after we drove into this area, with birds all around our boat, we spotted a blow. Due to it's size, we knew it was a humpback whale. We stayed in the area for a long time to watch it, but it only surfaced for us 4 times. However, it did show it's fluke twice and even came very close to the bow at one surfacing. Everyone that was outside got to see the humpback whale and actually stayed outside for the rest of the trip home, basking on the sun.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The sea conditions were much better than this morning, which made spottinf the animals much easier. We sailed more south than on the tour before. The first sighting of the tour was a minke whale that surface underneeth flock of feeding birds. Soon another minke showed up around 300 meters away. While following our second minke whale a larger blow was seen, that turned out to be a humpback whale! The humpback started off very elusive but after a while we got good looks at it, and it even fluked twice within 100 meters of the boat. Two more minke whales were seen before we left our main sighting grounds. Great successs on the bay with 4 minke whales and one humpack whale in sunny weather.
-Sigurlaug Sigurdardottir
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Leaving the port this morning we had some rain and wind, but we were pleasantly surprised as we were expecting larger swells due to weather forecast. Fortunately, those fashionable red overalls we keep in stock served us all quite well, and no one was uncomfortable. After our first hour of searching, we were greeted by two blows in succession, but the whale itself did not appear. As we ventured further out we had some great interactions with several different seabird species, but no cetaceans. Just as we were about to give up hope, a minke whale surfaced quite close to us. Living up to its reputation of having an elusive nature we only saw the animal a few times before it dived and we had to return to port. Due to the short nature and poor quality of our interactions we issued complimentary tickets at the end of the tour.
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: This morning we had quite some wind and the rain was constantly following us around. Nevertheless, all of us had a good time out at sea enjoying the true sailing experience and kept warm by the provided full-body overalls. After about 1 hour we spotted the first minke whale underneath a flock of birds. Unfortunately, we only saw it twice before it went for a longer dive. Thus, we turned around to head further out in the bay. Some time later we spotted another blow in some distance. However, this whale went straight down for another dive so that we could not see it again. But then we were surprised by two white-beaked dolphins which showed up right behind us. After turning the boat we could enjoy these two dolphins surfacing a couple of times in less than 50m to the boat. And suddenly, a minke whale surfaced right in front of us, less than 10m away showing its beautiful long black back. So, everyone who could stand the Icelandic weather and remained outside, was able to have a close look at this giant before we had to go back home to Reykjavik.
-Nicole Koestner
Bird species seen on todays tours: arctic skua, arctic tern, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, common guillemot, black guillemot, manx shearwater, black-legged kittiwake, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, northern fulmar, and storm petrel.
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