Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: We sailed out on what seemed to be the calmest and smoothest water ever. It had just finished raining and the sun came out warming everything up and giving us a lovely rainbow. We headed out to sea with a delightful group of passengers eager to see some whales. We sailed out towards the bright Icelandic sun and it wasn't long before we saw our first Minke Whale. This whale came fairly close to the boat and surfaced many times. This particular individual seemed to be sleeping however as it traveled very slowly. We continued on our journey and saw about two more minke whales. They all seemed pretty relaxed, but our passengers got a very good look at them. We spotted some jumping White-Beaked Dolphins in the distance and decided to head towards them. These dolphins continued to play and jump and ended up meeting us half way. they were very curious and came to check out our boat. Before we knew it they were jumping right in front of the boat. They swam under the boat and came out right in front of the boat. You could see their beautiful white stripes under the water and they were so close to the boat that one could literally reach down and touch them if they wanted. We stayed with these dolphins for a little while before heading back towards the harbour. On our way back we had the wonderful Bjarni (our house musician) play some wonderful songs for us as the beautiful midnight sun hit the horizon. We stopped by Lundey on our way back to see some lovely Puffins. Most of them seemed to be in the water, but the view of the mountains, islands and midnight sun was spectacular.
-Taylor Theodór
Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: When we sailed out, the weather had changed a little bit. It was raining a bit and that continued while leaving for the Puffin island, Lundey. There were more birds flying around than in the morning so we could get a nice look at the Puffins. After quite some time we encountered around 5-6 Harbour Porpoises just right in front of the boat! They surfaced a couple of times directly in front of us, it was very nice to have them so close. About15 minutes later, we spotted a Minke Whale in a bit of a distance and as we got closer we managed to spot it again and tried to get a better look at this animal. It was rather elusive and we had to stay with it for a while until we finally got a good look at it right to the side of the boat. We decided to head further out and try our luck in finding something more. Unfortunetly we didn't see anything else. When we got back the weather had gotten much better and the sea very calm.
-Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out from Reykjavík and the weather seemed to have warmed up since this morning. The sun was bright over Faxaflói Bay despite the clouds coming in from behind Reykjavík. We stopped by puffin island (Akurey) on our way out and saw a few puffins, thought most of them seemed to still be out at sea fishing. We then continued on our way and it wasn't long until one of our lovely passengers spotted some jumping Harbour Porpoises. We continued on our way to the area that we had been seeing minke whales this morning and sure enough we spotted out first Minke Whale. We waited to see if it would surface again, but it seemed to travel it own way and vanish. We did not however give up. We remained on our course out to sea and found several more minke whales. Most seemed to be distant from the boat, but a few came quite close towards the end of the tour and made our patient waiting quite worth it. We headed back to shore content and happy that we got to enjoy a few more hours of sun shine and whales than the rest of the Reykvíkingurs ( People of Reykjavík). Over all it was quite a delightful tour.
-Taylor Theodór
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out in the same excellent sea condition as this morning torwards Akurey, the Puffin Island. There were not many Puffins on the island, they were most likely busy fishing offshore so we kept going for some whales. It took us about 30 minutes until we spotted the first Minke Whale. We spotted some more around us so there were again at least 8 to 10 individuals around us. Some of them surfaced very close to our boat and the passengers could see the two blowholes and could also hear the breath of the whales, it was stunning. A very relaxed sunbathing sail back to Reykjavík ended this tour.
-Lisa Hofmann
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out in bright and sunny weather. The sea was smooth and the lovely mountains were amazing as always. We decided to sail straight out to sea and begin our search. On our way out we saw several little puffins and arctic terns flying along side of us. It wasn't long before we spotted our first Minke Whale. We stopped to watch this large creature surface a few times before going for a deep dive and disappearing. We continued on our way and began to see several Minkes surfacing all at the same time. It was hard to keep track of where they all were. Some of them were farther away from the boat, but a few came quite close and it was even possible to see their colors sink into the water as the descended to the side of the ship. All in all we must have seen 20 minke whales and the passengers were quite excited to help spot them. We headed on our way back towards puffin island. There were not that many at the island as most of them were either at sea fishing or basking in the sun in the sea right in front of the island.
-Taylor Theodór
Tour at 9:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We finally headed out into a beautiful sunny morning in Faxa Bay. It took us only 20 minutes until we spotted jumping White Beaked Dolphins. It was a very large pod of 40-50 individuals everywhere around us. We stayed with them a long time and as they headed away from us we followed slowly and they started jumping again right in front of us, turning while jumping and even tail slapping whis is a feeding behaviour when they scare und stun the fish. It was an amazing picture with the Whale Fjord in the background. We decided to leave the White Beaked Dolphins and headed further out to find some Minke Whales. And there was a lot going on in the bay today, after a short time we found a couple of Minke Whales actually between 10 to 20 animals! We stayed with the Minke Whales that where around us the closest and enjoyed their surfacing very close to the boat. There were not a lot of Atlantic Puffins on Lundey, the Puffin Island we visited on the way back probably because they were offshore fishing. It was a terrific start in the day!!
-Lisa Hofmann
Birds seen on today's tours: Artic Tern, Arctic Skua, Atlantic Puffin, Northern Gannet, Kittiwake, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Fulmar, Common Guillemot, Black Guillemot.