Tour status: RUNNING
Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: No sun for this midnight tour but it was warm and we were excited to head out. We had a little rain but as we went further in to the bay the rain stopped and we got to see Snæfellsjökull and some beautiful sunset by Snæfellsnes. Our first and only encounter of the tour was 3 minke whales traveling together, very rarely that we see that. It seem to be 2 adult minkes that surfaced together and then one smaller that was a little more curious about us. It came very close to the boat, spyhoping and did a little spin under the boat. The 2 older ones were not as curious but surfaced close by and we even got a sniff of them which was not so nice as they were very stinky. Everyone on board got a really close look and then on the way back we enjoyed some good music from our musician.
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Sun was gone for our evening tour and a light rain was our welcoming to Faxafloi, but sea-state was incredible flat and despite the fog we found a lot of wildlife. First, we spotted a flock of birds in between the fog and shortly after 2 minke whales popped up at different distances. When we were about to approach them we discovered another species, in this case a humpback whale which was surfacing for a while close to us so we enjoyed her presence and her powerful breath. Later on, we carried on to discover a third minke whale in the way back which was smooth and peaceful.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: This afternoon tour started out partly sunny and partly cloudy, but with calm sea conditions. Our first sighting was a pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins. They were just travelling past the boat at a leisurely pace. Soon after we came across 3-4 minke whales surfacing at various distances from the boat. One of them was a juvenile that was very curious and came right up to the boat, checking us out! It went from one side to the other a couple of times, but then it headed away. We went to a different area, which was crowded by flocks of feeding seabirds. Suddenly minke whales were surfacing all around us, about 5 individuals feeding with the seabirds, producing bubbles and just popping up everywhere you looked. A really amazing tour!
-Diana Besel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: After a cheerful and relaxed hour of sailing the boat turned southwards for encountering about 10 feeding minke whales in one area full of seabirds. Flocks of them were forming over and over again all around us, there must have been thousands of birds. After we stopped counting all the minkes we found a humpback whale that would leave us with mouths wide open. Incredibly it approached the boat and stayed for another half an hour and was apparently very relaxed and even curious. Finally we had to sail home, but nobody would forget about this day anymore.
-Valentin Witek
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out to the bay on the warmest day this year in Reykjavík, 14°C, but no sun. Our first encounter was a minke whale that surfaced a couple of times for us all around the boat. As we stayed with this minke we saw 4 more all around. Lots of excitement on board seeing so many minkes all around. For the rest of the tour we saw 5 more as we sailed on. We heard about some dolphins so we went to check them out . There were about 6-8 white-beaked dolphins that came close to our boat, swimming underneath and one dolphins even did some jumps with spins! On our way back we saw 6 more dolphins close to the harbour. Great tour on this wonderful day!
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The morning started a bit shy and foggy but it improved constantly. While we were sailing into the mist we spotted a big flock of birds feeding, when we approached them we discover a minke whale surfacing very close to us. It wasn't the only one, a total of 5-6 minkes were spotted during the tour. But the start of the day was a playful pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins. They were socializing, playing tricks, surfacing very close and diving under us. The plus was a little calf which was constantly jumping out of the water. The way back home was peaceful and many seabirds were crossing our path. A lovely Sunday morning.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Birds seen during our tour: eider duck, common guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill, atlantic puffin, arctic tern, northern fulmar, great cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, lesser black-backed gulll, glaucous gull, arctic skua, northern gannet.
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. Sea conditions are are favorable but there could always be some movement on the boat and we do have free seasickness tablets at the office. Hope you are able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
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