STATUS TOUR 17:00, 20:30: CANCELLED
Unfortunately our tours at 17:00 and 20:30 have been cancelled due to weather.
09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00: RUNNING
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out with the wind who had picked up in the meantime. Sailing closer to land provided us with a bit wind protection to have a smooth trip. We scanned a very big area on this tour, met some smaller feeding seabird flocks and once in a while spotted some cetacean activity in further distance, unfortunately upon approaching the area we did not see any signs anymore. So unfortunately we were not lucky on this tour and gave all our passengers complimentary tickets to come back on another tour with us.
- Sarah Kompatscher
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The weather picked up since the previous tour, so we left the harbour against unforgiving winds. Despite our efforts, as we are searching for wild animals, we have no control on when and where we might find them. Cetaceans can only be spotted, if they want to be seen. We were continually scanning the area and suddenly we sighted a big splash really far away and we knew instantly that it was the breaching minke whale sighted in the previous morning. We rushed into the place, but as this animals can be quite fast and unpredictable when they go for a deeper dive, we lost track of it. However, this hint brought us to a conspicuous harbor porpoise seen by a few passengers. Later on we finally encountered a humpback whale. But the latter was continuously traveling through deeper dives and it was only possible to observe it a few times every 10 minutes. For this reason, since the crew was aware that this tour did not offer an experience that does not match the kind that we know we are able to provide, all passengers were offer the possibility of getting a second chance with us for free!
- Ines Cunha
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: After a couple of days with a prolific sun, we can't mind too much the swell and wind coming back a little bit. Specially since it doesn't harm at all our chance to spot wildlife! We were proved right as soon enough after departure we found big water splashes in the distances. When joining the area, we found a minke whale that was breaching over and over for about 20 minutes! It ended up being the only cetaceans we encountered, but seeing it displaying such rare and impressive, even if somewhat awkward, jumps made this tour really special. It's a day to remember even for the experienced crew members!
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: There is that beautiful overcast again, the one that we are so used to. It was surprisingly cold as well, as the absence of sun makes a huge difference. The wind was somewhat strong as well. The weather conditions didn't distract us from our goal and after an hour of sailing we encountered a few feeding frenzied bird flock and not surprisingly 2-3 minke whales in the area. We had the luck of seeing these beauties from a couple a dozen of meters together with the plunge diving northern gannets. As always, a busy day in the bay of Faxaflói.
-Lucas Heinrich
Bird species seen on today's tour include: eider duck, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, black-legged kittiwake, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, razorbill, arctic skua, arctic tern, great cormorant & common guillemot
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. There is some wind and swells out on Faxabay so if you are sensitive to motion sickness we do have seasickness tablets free of charge at the ticket office. On board there are heated indoor areas but we also have overalls to keep you warm out on deck. For more information please contact us via phone at +354 519 5000 or by e-mail at elding@elding.is.
