Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: The weather grew a bit dim and it began to rain as we headed out to sea. The sea was still quite calm however which is always nice for whale watching. We headed towards the area that we had been seeing humpback whales recently and sure enough we spotted one large blow of a Humpback Whale. As we got closer we could see that there were actually two humpbacks swimming side by side. These individuals were quite relaxed surfacing only to let out their blows and not diving deep enough to show their flukes. These whales continued to surface about 6 times before we decided to let them be as they were most probably relaxing or sleeping. We continued on our way and got to see this couple of whales surface one last time right beside the boat. We headed towards some flocks of arctic terns and black-backed gulls who seemed to be feeding. Not long after we spotted a Minke Whale about 300 meters away and headed towards their direction. We were surprised to see that there were actually two minke whales and they surfaced several times in front of the boat completing our lovely tour. On the way back the one and only Bjarni entertained our passengers with his musical and comical talents. We stopped at Puffin Island and got to see a fair amount of these cute little birds in their natural habitat. Despite the cloudy weather the tour was quite a success and Snæfellsnes Glacier really shined as the setting sun peaked through the clouds.
-Taylor
Tour at 17:00Report from Elding: The weather was nice but a little more cloudy then earlier today. We started the tour with going to Akurey, one of the Puffin islands and then we headed out. after around 30 minutes sailing we saw pods of White-beaked dolphins, probably over 30 animals. they were jumping and breaching all around us and surfacing just infront of us. it's so much fun watching these playful animals. After some time spent with the dolphins we decided to head to another area and see if we could find something more. After a long time sailing we almost gave up hope, our time was running out and soon we would have to head back to the harbour, but then, all of a sudden a Humpback Whale breached ( jumped out of the water) only 50-60 meters infront of the boat! What a surprise! We watched it surface a couple of times and it even rolled in the surface of the ocean and we could easily see that it was feeding because of the Arctic Terns diving down around him.Amazing tour, full of playful animals and a huge surprise! - Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 14:00:Report from Elding: The weather was beautyful as we headed towards Akurey, one of the Puffin islands. After a short time sailing we spotted a Minke Whale and watched it surface a few times. we headed further out and in the tour we spotted around 4 Minke's and one even surfaced only 10 meters away from the boat !It can be very interesting to see the different behaviours of the animals during the day and in this tour they just seemed to be swimming around, maybe full after the feeding in the morning.But all in all it was a great tour with the Minke's - Freydís Ósk HjörvarsdóttirTour at 13:00:
Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had gone down and the sun was shining on this beautiful afternoon. We started our tour in Akurey and then we sailed out. After about 20 minutes we spotted our first Minke Whale. We stayed in the same area for the whole tour and saw probably between 4-5 individuals. One of them surfaced just right in front of us, less then 5 m away. A beautiful day with many Minkes.
-Aldís Erna PálsdóttirTour at 10:00: Report from Elding: The tour started with a visit to one of the Puffin Island, Lundey, where we got a good look at the Atlantic Puffins. There was a lot of life in the bay and birds were feeding all around us. After some sailing we saw a splash in the surface of the ocean, it was a surface feeding Minke Whale! We watched it eating and then spotted another Minke Whale a little further away. We watched them for a while and then headed further out where we saw a pod of 10-15 White-beaked dolphins, we got to watch them for a while but they were obviously kind of busy and moved quickly away. On our way back to the harbour we spotted 2 more pods of White-beaked dolphins and even 2 dolphins were breaching ( jumping out of the water) a little further away. The trip ended with a Minke Whale that surfaced just 5 meters away from the boat! amazing! Great trip with around 4-5 Minke Whales and over 30 Dolphins, the wild life in Faxaflói bay can sure be amazing. -Freydís Ósk Hjörvarsdóttir
Tour at 9:00:
Report from Hafsúlan: It was rather windy this morning. We started our tour in Lundey where we have around 5000 pairs of breeding puffins. Then we headed out. We searched for quite a while before spotting some White-beaked Dolphins. It was a big pod, at least 15 individuals and we stayed with them for a while, watching them jumping all around the boat and even swimming under it. When we were getting very close to land we spotted a Minke Whale. We only had time to see it surface 3-4 times but it was very beautiful.
-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir
Birds seen on todays tours include: Atlantic Puffins, Eider Ducks, Arctic Terns, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Common Guillemots, Razorbills, Northern Gannets