Status Tour at 19:00: CANCELLED
Since the wind is picking up even more towards the evening and the sea conditions are therefore worsening, we unfortunately have to cancel our Whales in the midnight sun today. For any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our ticket office at +354 519 5000 or via e-mail at elding@elding.is.
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: It was a little drizzly as we headed out however, this didn´t bother us in the slightest. Unfortunately we weren´t too lucky at the beginning of our tour with only a few lonely fulmars and a wondering gannet to keep us company. Little did we know our luck was going to change.....drastically. First we spotted land and then a blow and another and then finally a back and it was confirmed to be a humpback whale. This animal gave us a wonderful view at its large body, showing us its great fluke as it went for a dive. This whale then gave the shock of our lives as it suddenly jumped fully out of the water in a fantastic BREACH!!!! After a few more normal surfacings it did it AGAIN!! Truly awe inspiring! We were also surprised as this animal was doing this so close to shore and feeding inbetween! If that wasn´t enough not one but two minke whales showed up to join the fun. What a magical end to a difficult start.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsulan: It was a icelandic summer day, strong wind and overcast with clouds. But the overalls kept us warm so off we went. But we did´t have much luck. Even tough the waves where not as high as expected we didn´t get to see any whales. But we got a lot of fresh air and it´s always nice to be out at sea and enjoy the landscape. When we returned we gave everybody a complementary ticket, so everybody can come again with us on the tour for free. The tickets are valid for 2 years.
- Alexandra Bouman
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: We sailed out into the bay with a wind that was picking up much faster tan expected, and a sky that was threatening us to rain over us at any time. Luckily for us the sea was still pretty calm and no rough waves were to be faced during the tour. It took around 40 minutes to have our first and only encounter of the tour with a pod of 6-7 white beaked dolphins. The animals were quite in the mood for us at the beginning and even got so close to the boat that we were able to see their bodies through the water. So beautiful to see the white stripes that this species have all around themselves. Unfortunately the encounter finished suddenly, the animals just disappeared completely of our sight and we had to resume our sailing. We weren't lucky this time with the other cetaceans, so we finished the tour giving our passengers complimentary tickets. The lack of cetaceans on our tours during the summer time is rather unusual, so we hope all of them will have the opportunity to try a second time!
- Alberto Alejandro
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: Despite a cloudy sky and cold winds the weather was nice for whale watching. Wearing our overalls no one felt cold and could enjoy the entire tour outside. We spotted a minke whale just as we passed Grotta, but it was traveling very fast and only surfaced once. Also 2 harbour porpoises greeted us on our way out into Faxafloi. We headed towards a blow we spotted which brought us to an area where we watched 2 minke whales, also traveling but constantly into the same direction and surfacing very frequently. That made one of the individuals very easy to follow and I am sure everyone was able to get some nice photos of it. We left it alone as other boats were approaching and we didn't want too many around the same whale and found yet another minke whale just 2 minutes later. While this one was elusive, the next 2 we found were also rather easy to follow. What made the tour even nicer were some Puffins flying around us numerous times and especially one Fulmar that just kept circling the boat. Finally we encountered a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins that were milling and we enjoyed a few minutes with them before we had to return to harbour.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: It was a lovely calm day on sailing out to the bay, there was little wind and flat seas. It really didn´t take us very long to find the animals today. Just after 25 minutes we were watching a minke whale. This animal surfaced in a beautiful surface sequence on many occasions allowing us a good look at its streamlined form. After viewing this animal for sometime we decided to head further out to find something else. A small pod of 2-3 white-beaked dolphins were briefly spotted but unfortunately these didn't stick around so long. However, we were able to spot another minke whale which we were able to get a very good look at. A lovely end to a relaxing tour!
- Tess Hudson
Birds seen on today's tours: northern fulmar, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, arctic skua, common guillemot, kittiwake, black guillemot and black-backed gull.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjvik today. The wind will pick up a bit during the day but the wind direction is in our favor so the sea conditions should be fine. If you are sensitive to seasickness we do provide seasickness tablets in our ticket office as well as on board of our boats. We hope you will be able to join us today on our search of these magnificent animals in their natural environment.