Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: What a Beautiful tour! We headed out of Keflavik with totally flat seas a clear sky, a setting sun and some absolutely wonderful rainbows lighting the sky with colours! Not even 5 minutes into this tour, when I had not even finished introducing the crew was when we first started seeing cetaceans. The fist sign was a beautiful big blow, indicating the position and species of this animal. Once a bit closer we were able to see not one but three different humpback whales surfacing around us! As there were a few boats in the area, mainly fishing we focused our efforts on one whale, which was indulging us in some fantastic behaviours, such as lunge feeding, partial breaching and head rising. After some massive jumping lunges this animal decided to take a little break and instead just slowly surface. We were able to watch this animal for a long time just slowing surfacing around the boat, showing us its amazing fluke as it did so. We then also checked out another whale as the sun was setting basking the landscape in the most wonderful glow. As the tour was coming to an end it seemed the humpbacks didn´t want us to leave as one individual started head rising and lunge feeding only 80 metres from the boat, truly spectacular to watch!
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 17:00
Report from Elding: So as soon as we left the harbour it started raining and everyone abandoned me to the top deck by myself. We had a harbour porpoise and two minke whales tease us with glimpses on our way to Keflavik, but we didn't let the weather or the unfriendly animals dampen our enthusiasm! After waiting for what felt like an eternity at Keflavik our patience was rewarded by an amazing humpback whale! It gave us some spectacular breaches, some fantastic pectoral slaps and just as we turned to the harbour it surfaced literally within 10 metres of the bow of the boat. Good things really come to those who wait!
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: It got cloudy for this trip, but the winds were still calm and there were only very scarce white caps on the waves. so spotting conditions were still great. Our first encounter was only 30 minutes out of the harbour in an area with 2 feeding minke whales. We got to see one of them less than 30 meters from the boat, lifting it's rostrum up high out of the water as it was feeding. Further out, we encountered 2 more minke whales, also feeding. On the way back towards Reykjavík, we watched another minke whale that was travelling. We also encountered a pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins, but they were avoiding our boat. As we respected this, we kept going our way, seeing another minke whale close to Grotta. Nice to see so many minke whales in the bay today.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: A beautiful Icelandic summer day with perfect whale watching conditions. Only a few minutes after we left the shelter of the harbour, we spotted a big pod of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins. First they seemed to be milling and surfaced slowly a couple of times even close to the boat. After a while they speeded up and some of them were even leaping out of the water so that we could see there beautiful long white stripes on both sides of their back. We followed this pod for a few minutes before we decided to head further west. Further out in the bay we saw many minke whales (at least 8) solely popping up here and there. But today it was quite challenging to follow them around as most of the time they only surfaced once or twice and disappeared when we got closer. But one of them surfaced three times in less than 20 m to our vessel so that most of our passenger got a close look at this elegant whale. And at the end we are happy to know that there are so many of these minke whales in the protected area of Faxafloi.
-Nicole Koestner
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: It was a beautiful morning in Reykjavik. The sun was out and almost no wind, and the sea was so calm, perfect condition for whale watching. Soon after we had left we saw splashes in the distance, we headed that way and found a pod of 7-8 white-beaked dolphins. They where very easy going and easy to follow, so nice to watch them. After leaving them we got a call that other boats had spotted minke whales. When we where in the area it took a bit of time before the minkes showed themselves but then one came up and soon another surfaced. It was a bit in the distance but because of the beautiful conditions they where easy to see. After a bit of time one more minke came up so nicely. On the way back we all enjoyed the sun.
- Alexandra Bouman
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: What amazing conditions for whale-watching today! The sun was shining so brightly I was genuinely scared I'd get sunglasses tan-lines on my face. The sea was so amazingly calm the boat barely rocked. We found our first cetacean, a harbour porpoise just outside the harbour! Just past Grotta we had our first minke whale, a friendly fellow that continued to surface and stay close to the boat for a good 20 minutes or longer. Deciding not to disturb it for too long, we then headed out towards some splashes that we had seen in the distance when we first encountered the minke. Our idea paid off and we were soon accompanied by a pod of 12 very social white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins were porpoising everywhere and really came close to the boat, almost bow-riding us at one point. Sensing that the dolphins were getting bored of us, we decided to continue further out where we were soon surrounded by minke whales everywhere. One even surfaced right next to the boat a couple of times, almost at touching distance! I'll repeat; what an amazing day!
-Rachel Pool
Birds seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, atlantic puffins, common guillemots, eider duck, greater black-backed gull, manx shearwater, black-legged kittiwake and northern fulmar.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. There is little wind today and lets hope the sun will shine on us today. We are looking forward to you joining us on our search for these magnificent animals.
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