Tour at 19:00
Report from Hafsulan: This evening seemed to be a wonderful moment to sail out and discover the secret of Faxafloi. We started our trip enjoying the sun but a little bit of wind from the west. With these conditions, we searched the area and we saw many seabirds around us, but the cetaceans seemed to be quite elusive today. Fortunately for us, at the end we spotted a big group of white-beaked dolphins, they were around 6-8 of them and they were traveling quite slowly without any hurries. We were amused by their presence and relaxation and we enjoyed watching them for quite a lot of time. In the way back, we had a good time with Bjarni our favorite singer and the fantastic midnight sun shinning in our back.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The wind had picked up even more since the afternoon tour but the sea conditions were still good although some white caps were forming on the surface. When we reached the area where the dolphins were seen on the previous tour we slowed down and scanned the water, soon we heard news from another boat that 2 dolphins had been spotted. When we came closer the dolphins had vanished, however, soon after a minke whale surfaced at a 600 meters distance. The minke was elusive but we managed to catch a glimpse of it a few times. The best sighting of the tour was definitely the 6-7 white beaked dolphins that jumped around our boat for at least 10 minutes far out on the bay. They came close to the boat and we could see their whole bodies from snout to tail underneath the water surface! What a perfect end to our tour.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan; What a great a day to be outside! The sky was almost clear and just a little breeze was our companion for the afternoon tour. We were sailing close to the entrance of Hvalfjörður so we could contemplate the awesome scenery that Faxafloi offered today. After a while searching in the area, we spotted a big dorsal fin in the distance so we decided to get closer and check what was going on there. To our surprise it wasn´t a solitary individual, but a pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins, our favorite endemic species! We stayed with them for a while and we were able to see a little calf jumping out of the water, a magical moment. Later on, we continued with our trip, pursuing more species. It took a while, but just before we decided to come back home, a great adult of minke whale surfaced just in front of us, coming for nowhere and offering a spectacular close look from this animal. The way back was incredible calm and we got good views from Grótta lighthouse and its surroundings.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The wind was a little stronger than on the morning tour but even so we had fantastic weather for whale watching. The visibility over the bay was great and definitely gave us a great advantage for the tour. It took us about 50 minutes to find the first minke whale of the tour, it was fairly easy to follow it around and get good looks at it. 2 other minke whales were seen on the tour and they turned out to give us an even better show as they surfaced a couple of times within 100 meters of the bout. Sometimes we could even hear the breath of the animals. On the way back we traveled past a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins that started bow riding our boat! it was a fantastic sighting and a great way to end the tour!
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: Today was a fantastic surprise for me getting out onto the water. After the last few times when I´d been out and the weather hadn´t been too good, the sailing conditions were genuinely optimal for whale-watching today. Just ten minutes away from Grotta we encountered our first animal, a minke whale that was milling around in the area, so it surfaced a few times in random directions, but always close enough for us to get a good look. We then headed out further into the bay, searching for a different species - instead another minke whale popped up! We decided not to stop for this one though and soldier on our way. We were soon rewarded by the presence of a pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins who were travelling. They weren´t feeling too inquisitive, but we all got a great look at them while they porpoised away!
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: We had really good conditions sailing out today. The sea was flat and the sky was overcast. While we were sailing out, we had some Atlantic puffins fly by as well as a number of different sea birds. Our captain spotted some white-beaked dolphins on our left and we changed course to see them, unfortunately they vanished, remaining unseen for most passengers. As we sailed through our main sighting area, we spotted some minke whales, first we saw two separate ones in two different places, then two in the same place. These minkes got as close as 50 meters from the boat, however never really seemed to stick around for too long.
- Friedrich Rittner
Birds seen on today's tours: Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Common Guillemot, Atlantic Puffin, Northern Fulmar, Northern Gannet, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Black-legged kittiwake, Manx Shearwater, Black-headed Gull, Red Shank, European Storm Petrel, Greylag Goose and Eider Duck.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on another beautiful day. Hoping that both the sun and the whales will come out and play
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