SATURDAY, 21 APRIL 2018

Status: RUNNING

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Honest to God my best tour in 2018 so far! We sailed out with the sun and ended up passing under two rain clouds during our arrival to where the whales were... business as usual in Iceland. First we saw a small lone minke whale off the bow, which showed its pointy head to us a couple of times before vanishing. Next we saw about 10 harbour porpoises swimming fast along the boat. We could see their tiny bodies under the surface as they swam 2 meters from the boat. Finally we arrived at the sea buffet and there was stuff to be seen there! More then 20 northern gannets flying and skydiving into the water, the fish finder going crazy and the top predators - 4 humpback whales lunge feeding, tail slapping, breaching multiple times out of the water and coming really close to the boat. Like the previous days we had the mother and calf sticking close together and giving us a show of a lifetime. They didn't dive that deep or long so they were basically all around us the whole time and we could see their white flippers gliding under the water surface. Once we even saw a humpback speed up for a charge at a school of fish before trapping them in it's huge mouth. Just wow!

-Lucas Heinrich

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: The weather was lovely with no wind or rain, the visibility over the mountains around the bay were great, and the sea conditions were close to perfection. On our way out to the areas where we have been most successful the last few days we spotted at least 30 harbour porpoises which seemed to be busy feeding at the surface. It was easy to spot their small bodies in the mirror flat sea. After about an hour of sailing we found an area with 4 humpback whales. First, we sailed next to a single whale that was traveling further out on the bay. This whale soon met up with 2 other humpbacks. They seemed to start socialising as soon as they came close together, rolling and circling around each other. After witnessing this interesting behaviour, they started lunge feeding. The fourth humpback whale kept at a few hundred meters distance from the other. This was an unforgettable moment with, especially because they often surfaced right next to our boat. On the way back we saw 2 minke whales and 5 harbour porpoises. It was such a nice morning to be out on the water that I decided to join the 13 o´clock tour even though I was not scheduled to work.

- Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on today's tours include: Atlantic puffin, common guillemots, razorbills, northern gannet, eider duck, lesser black-backed gull, black-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar, Arctic skua.

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on this beautiful day. Sea conditions are favorable and the weather is calm. Hope you will be able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.