Tour status: RUNNING
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: We left the harbour under light drizzle and wind this afternoon. After about 45 minutes of sailing, we came across a pod of at least 7 white-beaked dolphins, that stayed with us a little while, bow-riding and swimming under the boat. Some of them were jumping too, an impressive sight for passengers and crew members alike. We sailed out a bit further and found a minke whale that furtively surfaced 3-4 times before going for a deeper dive. As we left this minke and made out way further out, we found 2 more minke whales, elusive as well, but closer to the boat this time. We made out way back to the harbour in the rain, but satisfied with such an incredible dolphin sighting brief but enjoyable encounter with the minkes.
-Anne Moullier
Tour at 14.00
Report from Hafsúlan: The weather unfortunately took a turn for the worse. It started raining and the poor visibility made it challenging to spot cetaceans. This however, did not stop us from spotting whales on the tour. We saw 6 minke whales on the trip, and they came close to the boat a few times. We had a surprise on the tour, while we where enjoying the sight of northern gannets, which the boat is named after, when suddenly a minke whale came up right next to the gannets! Its was a welcomed surprise indeed. Despite the weather, we had a good trip with lots of minke whales.
- Mia Rasmussen
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The weather was fairly good for this tour, we got a little rain and wind so the overalls came in handy. The first sighting on this tour was a minke whale. We could follow the minke for a little while and then we spotted a familiar figure. It was Humpie, a minke whale that has been seen almost every year since 2011. We left them to go and try and see some other cetaceans. In the distance we could see around 7 white-beaked dolphins. They were jumping out of the water and being playful, so everyone got a good look. We approached them and they came so close to the boat you could hear them. They seemed to be feeding and some arctic terns were trying to get their leftovers. On the way back to the harbour some people got a glimpse of another minke whale. We ended the tour with a little show from the Coast Guard as they were doing a helicopter drill in harbour. Great Tour!
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: With not a single trace of sunshine in the sky, we sailed out with our catamaran to spite the gloomy weather. Sailing out about 10 nm we spotted various seabirds in a feeding frenzy together with at least 3 individual minke whales. One of the whales was interacting with the boat quite nicely, showing us it's marvelous hidrodynamic body from only 12 m away. You could see the characteristic white patch on the flippers that the Atlantic population has. Really nice, smooth tour with lots of whale and bird enthusiasts on board. You guys were delightful, thanks for the positive energy :)
-Lucas Heinrich
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The bay has been suspiciously warm over the last few days, so indeed the cold made an expected return today due to an increasing wind. It was nothing that our thermal suits cannot help with though, and fortunately water remained still in our cruise. We had a splendid encounter with 12-15 white-beaked dolphins! They were shy at first, keeping a safe distance with the boat, surfacing erraticly and sometime splitting the pod. But with a little bit of perseverance, we secured close sightings, and the best thing happened when the dolphins loosened up a little bit! They started to bow ride the boat, enjoying the impusle of the pressure waves at the front of the vessel! Then they swam next to the boat to have a look at us, and when we decided to leave them and increased our pace, they were riding the waves we left in our trail! It was a truly spectacular sight, and provided great pictures opportunites. The luckiest of the passengers could catch glimpses of 2 minkes whales. They were obviously busy, surfacing only once in between deep dives, so they were hard to spot, but hopefully most of our passsengers could tip that box. After that we went back to the harbour facing the wind, so a bit chilly but a quiet ride home.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Bird species seen on today's tour include: black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, eider duck, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, razorbill, arctic skua, manx shearwater & arctic tern
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. Sea conditions are good and lets hope that the sun will shine on us. Hope you are able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
