✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 20:30
Report from Elding: This evening started out with a beautiful sunset above Snæfellsjökull, that we could not believe our eyes. All day we had very calm weather and it continued also in our last tour. While enjoying the scenery around us and some bird life, it took us about an hour until we had our first encounter with a pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins. And they were just incredible, jumping right infront of the boat, bow-riding and continously staying super close to the boat. We were able to stay with the animals for quite a long time before we continuednour search for other cetaceans. And we had no idea what was going to happen when we spotted the minke whale. It was literally the coolest minke whale encounter ever, with a behaviour so rarely observed: it was sleeping! Or at least half of its brain was. But with that, the animal kept surfacing super slowly and partially so close to the boat that all passengers got a real good look at it. Simply amazing! And with that image in mind, we continued back into the harbour, enjoying the continous sunset.
-Christina Winkler
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 17:00
Report from Elding: The sea was still really calm and we had a wild wind refreshing our faces while leaving Reykjavik. The morning tours were amazing so we had high hopes and we were just waiting for the moment we had our next encounter. It wasn't after a long time fortunately! A big group of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins started to jump out of the water. As long as we get closer, our excitement was increasing because all of them were jumping without stopping at all. We had an amazing encounter with jumping dolphins really close to us, mixing with dolphins doing bow riding and sailing with us throughout the bay. It was so special!! Unbelieveble! After a long time with them, we decided to continue our way until we saw two minke whales in the distance with a really big flock of active birds with puffins, northern gannets, manx shearwater, etc. We were waiting for a while, but, apparently the whales decided to surface somewhere else or maybe they were just enjoying a really long dive. Such an amazing day anyway!
-Elena Gutiérrez Ruiz
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The weather had not really changed since this morning, only winds had picked up slightly and brought in some clouds. Still it was very pleasant out in the bay and we, of course, headed directly to where this morning the marine life had been so abundant. We spotted a minke whale from far away but, as we got closer, it did not appear again and we did not wait for it as our other boat, Elding, called us and told us about a minke whale they were watching. We went there immediately and also enjoyed seeing it surface for multiple breaths, following it for a good 15 minutes before we suddenly saw huge splashes about 900 meters away. It was a pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins jumping! As we got there, they first calmed down in their behaviour but then, and to our amusement, began jumping again. Only as time ran out did we turn away from them, sailing past another minke whale on our way back. Live in Faxafloi is so energetic today!
- Elena Gutièrrez
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 13:00
Report from Eldey: This noon we started out pretty much the same way like this morning: lots of sunshine, almost no clouds and no waves with only the wind picking up a bit during the tour. We decided to head towards the same. We decided to head towards the same area where we had successful sightings earlier the day. And we were soon rewarded with not just a lot of birdlife, but at least 3 minke whales around the boat. We stopped the boat and were able to observe the animals, which seemed to only surface one or two times before going for deeper dives. One animal was coming pretty close to the boat but in the end they were all heading their own way. We descided to turn the boat and were able to spot two more individuals in the closer proximity, but more in the further distance. With that encounter fresh in our memory we were heading back towards the harbour, enjoying the beautiful weather and landscapes all around us.
-Christina Winkler
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: "In the summertime when the weather is hot, you can..." come out on amazing whale watching tours here in the bay of Faxafloi. Sunshine, flat seas, no wind and no overalls required, we sailed out to find 4 minke whales feeding all around us. Whether you looked left or right, you could see them. And soon they were joined by a pod of at least 20 white-beaked dolphins that jumped at least 100 times, came to bowride, chased after fish, did inverted leaps and surfed our boats waves. It was so calm, we simply turned off our engines and enjoyed the area for an hour. On our way back, we encountered another 3 minke whales and also 2 very cute harbour porpoises that were not shy at all! We enjoyed summer music playing and most passengers couldn't help but move their feet along to the music and smile widely.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 9:00
Report from Eldey: The weather was so nice, warm, sunny and the sea was very calm. We sailed out and after a while we found a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins! They were quite elusive but we did get a nice look at them before we decided to head further out in search for other animals. We ended up having 9-10 minke whales in the area, everywhere around us, near and far! It was so amazing and we enjoyed their company for a while before heading back. Wonderful tour!
-Kristín Viðja
Bird species identified today: atlantic puffin, northern gannet, northern fulmar, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, black-legged kittiwake, arctic tern, common guillemot, black guillemot, manx shearwater, arctic skua, eider duck.
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. If you are prone to getting sea sick, we do have sea sickness tablets available free of charge at the office and on board. Make sure to dress warmly and make use of our warm overalls as it is always colder on sea than on land. For more information contact us by email elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000.
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