Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the evening, the wind had picked up even more and we were facing rough conditions with wind, waves and rain out on faxa bay. However, we did not give up and even though we had to sail for almost two hours without seeing anything but the amazing Northern Gannets, we spotted a Minke Whale eventually. It came up not far from us and like earlier in the day it was very hard to follow it. It changed direction frequently and we lost it after seeing it surfacing about 5 times. Some lucky ones also saw a couple of Harbour Porpoises that came up very close to the boat before they vanished in the depths of faxa bay. All in all it was a difficult tour with rough conditions and a Minke Whale that was hard to follow. What made my day were the very nice passengers and all the interesting chats I had with some of you on the way back. I hope you enjoyed this icelandic advanture at sea that included several "free" (cold) showers on the top deck! ;-)
- Hendrik Schultz
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out from Reykjavík in not the nicest of weathers, the wind had picked up also making the swells a little higher causing a few green faces during the tour. I did hear from a couple of passengers that, apparently usually have a sensitive stomache, that the sea sickness tablet we provide free of charge really helped them, however you do have to take this quite early for it to work well. We saw at least 5-7 Minke Whales on this tour, it was quite exciting as they were surfacing here and there far and close. Its all about looking in the right direction at the right time because they are FAST! Minke spotting should be a sport I think. We also saw a couple of puffins on this tour, nice to see a few still around.
-Megan Whittaker
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the afternoon, the sea was still rough and rain was covering the bay. It took us quite long this time to spot some life in the bay, but eventually we saw some Northern Gannets diving into the water in a few hundred meters distance. As we came closer, we spotted the black back of a Minke Whale. Firstly, it was very difficult to keep track with the whale and we were running short in time. However, literally in the last minute, we spotted two Minke Whales at a time, both relatively close to the boat! This time, we got quite close so we could thoroughly enjoy them in the end. One of our passengers even spotted another minke on our way back to Reykjavik, while some of us were distracted watching a swarm of mackrels that was causing bubbles very close to the surface. Funny how we had to search so long and then suddenly got to see 3 to 4 Minke Whales in total.
- Hendrik Schultz
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out in rainy conditions and somewhat rocky seas which got rockier the further we headed offshore, but that was the best possibility to spot the whales. On the way we saw a couple fo Puffins, which was nice as it is at the end of their season now, so it is good to see a few still around. Then it was a Minke Whale that the crew saw 4 times but i don´t think the passengers got a great look at it as it surfaced quite far from the boat. We searched for a long time for others, we even looked for the dolphins the other whale watching boat saw but no luck. A couple of passengers did point out a 2-3 Harbour Porpoises but they were gone as soon as they arrived. Very dissapointing tour even more so because there didn´t seem a shortage of fish and birds. We gave our passengers complimenatry tickets in the hope they will have better sightings next time.
-Megan Whittaker
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the morning, the wind was blowing and the sea was quite rocky as we went out in an overcast faxa bay. On this morning's tour, we spotted a Minke Whale soon, after we head headed out the harbour. First, it was just a blow that caught our attention, but as we slowed down to have a closer look, we managed to spot a minke and were able to follow it for quite a while. As we decided to continue and look for something else, it took us only five minutes until we spotted splashes in a kilometer distance, which turned out to be a group of 4 to 6 White-beaked Dolphins. It was great to see them coming close to the boat and some of them jumped slightly out of the water - what a wonderful start into this windy day!
- Hendrik Schultz
Birds seen on today's tours included: Manx Shearwaters, Atlantic Puffins, Northern Gannets, Fulmars, Lesser black-backed Gulls, Iceland Gulls, Common Guillemots