Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: We sailed out into Faxa bay this evening with light rain and cloudy skies. The seas were calm and conditions for whale watching excellent. First we began by visiting Akurey and the charismatic Puffins on our way out to the bay. Soon after visiting Akurey and still very close to land we spotted our first cetacean of the tour a Minke whale! This was an extremley friendly and calm individual and surfaced many times close to the boat. We got a very good look at this minke but after a while this minke swam off and we decided to head further out. Unfortunatley as we went further out the weather became worse and we found no further cetaceans during our search. But despite that we had an excellent minke at the start of the tour and enjoyed the music and humour of Bjarni the Magician on our way back to Reykjavik.
Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We headed out of Reykjavík and the sea was very calm, which is always great when going whale watching. We started on our way and were admiring the pretty Esja mountain when we happened upon some White-Beaked Dolphins. There were about four to five of them together moving quite slowly. We decided to continue on our way after seeing them surface a few times. We eventually came upon a large pod of about 10-12 white beaked dolphins. We got to see these amazing creatures traveling together. Again we continued on our way out to sea and spotted our first Minke Whale. We saw this individual surface a few times. This minke was most likely a calf judging by the size of it. We continued again out to sea and found even more minke whales. This time there were two of them surfacing more regulary, however, they did not seem to come very close to the boat or show themselves all that well. Our passengers were, however, very good spotters and helped us to find these whales whenever they came up to the surface. We stuck around a little more and eventually headed back to reykjavík where we saw a few puffins at Akurey (Puffin Island). The trip was a little rainy and the whales were a bit shy, but over all it was great to see them as well as the dolphins.
-Taylor Theódór
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: With much the same conditions as had been prevalent in the bay today if not better, we sailed out into Faxa bay with high hopes. Pretty soon after we set out we spotted our first cetacean of the tour, a Minke whale. We saw that individual only a few times before he went for a deep dive but a good start to the tour. After that first sighting we only sailed a short distance and then stayed almost in the same spot for the rest of the tour enjoying what must have been around 5-6 minke whales as they surfaced all around us. We got some amazing looks at them as we turned off the engines on the mirror calm sea and just enjoyed these giants as they surfaced all around the boat. A fantastic tour ended by a calm afternoon cruise back towards shore all the while enjoying the view of Reykjavik from the sea.
-Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out in an excellent sea condition this afternoon and even got some sunshine. We headed straight out to the area where we spotted whales earlier this morning. We got to sea a lot of see birds and after a short period we spotted the first Minke Whale. It was the calf that we have seen this morning but we couldn´t spot it´s mother. We saw it a couple of times but we decided to keep going since it was just a few months old and we didn´t want to disturb it too long. We saw more Minke Whales shortly after the first encounter, in total at least 6 different individuals. It was an amazing tour as they surfaced all around the boat. On the way back we stopped at Akurey, the Puffin Island but unfortunately very few were home but we saw them quite well offshore.
-Lisa Hofmann
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Today we had excellent conditions for whale watching with calm winds and the perfect sea state. We began by visiting Akurey, but unfortunatley not many puffins were home today. We then headed out further into the bay to begin our search for cetaceans. At first our patience was tested as we spotted some whales in the distance but they quickly dived down and away. But soon after a black back was spotted close to the boat and we had our first proper cetacean sighting of the day, a Minke whale! We saw this individual a few times and soon after we saw a few more minkes and in the end we shut off the engines and enjoyed them as they surfaced around us. All in all a very good encounter with two minkes coming especially close and giving us a fantastic view. We then sailed back in the fantastic weather back towards Reykjavik.
-Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 9:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out from Reykjavík and the weather was quite nice. We stopped at Puffin Island and saw a few Puffins, however, most of them seemed to be out at sea fishing. We headed out towards the horizon and all enjoyed the fair weather despite some larger rolling waves. We saw a few Puffins feeding on the surface as well as some Northern Gannets. We eventually spotted our first Minke Whale. These whales seemed to surface only a few times before going down for long deep dives. There must have been three minke whales in total and judging by their size at least two of them were calfs. Our passengers werte able to see them come up various times and even quite close to the boat one time. Overall the tour was quite entertaining and the sun seemed to make it that much more enjoyable.
-Taylor Theódór
Birds seen on today's tour include: Northern Gannet, Fulmer, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Razorbill, Guillemot, Arctic Tern, Great Skua.