✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 20:30
Report from Elding: It was a lovely evening for a midnight whale watching tour, sunny, warm and smooth seas. In these perfect conditions we spotted a large flock of birds from kilometers distance. These birds were feeding on large scools of fish that had attrackted numerous pods of white beaked dolphins. There must have been at least 30-40 white-beaked dolphins shatterd over a large area. As soon as we got closer to them they showed us that they were not shy animals at all and started bow-riding as well as swimming all around and underneath the boat. But the highlight were probably one juvenile and later on one even smaller calf jumping around on the side of the boat. It really is a joy to watch those beautiful animals simply enjoying their life. We continued our search, but only found a pair of the same species of dolphins, that was clearly avoiding our boat, so we decided to give them their space and continue on. With the image of those joyful animals still fresh in our minds we arrived back in the harbour, all smiles.
-Christina Winkler
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 17:00
Report from Eldey: Winds had picked up and we had a lot of white caps topping the waves. We sailed to where we had left many active birds feeding earlier on, but they had dispersed. Although that was a bit dissapointing, nothing like that could break our optimism. And it didn't as we spotted some strange splashes further away. We followed these splashed, unsure what was creating them for several minutes. Until we saw a pod of at least 7 white-beaked dolphins. They were going on a major fish hunt, like in the documentaries, moving impressively fast and also jumping a lot. Even their little calf was keeping up. We watched this spectacular show for nealry an hour, but left some time to look for further species. Although we did not find any, our way back was absolutely beautiful with rainbows in the sky and the sun shining onto Reykjavík.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 14:00
Report from Hafsulan: This afternoon tour started out just as great as our previous tour, with perfect weather for whale spotting. We sailed out into Faxafloi Bay with beautiful scenery around us and it took us less than an hour to spot our first of 3 minke whales. All three animals however seemed to be feeding on the bottom of the bay. By only surfacing once before disappearing again and staying under water for up to 8-10 minutes, it made the task impossible for all of us to get to see those beautiful animals. We decided to head further and were awarded with a pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins. Those animals seemed not shy at first and came towards us, but then dove under the boat and disappeared on us on the other side of the boat. Overall it was not the kind of experience we want our passengers to have, which is why we offered all of them the possibility to come onto another tour with us in the future free of charge.
-Christina Winkler
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 13:00
Report from Eldey: And again, such calm seas made for amazing spotting conditions. We sailed out and actually had our first encounter just at the lighthouse Grótta, meeting some white-beaked dolphins. They proved to be rather shy and obviously had something else to attend to as they swam away very quickly. Lucky for us, just a mile further out we encountered another pod of dolphins that was much more in a whale watching mood. There was probably 10 of them, if not more. Even a calf showed up amongst them. They came bowriding, then went for some jumps and finally began to feed amongt a flock of birds. We had so much fun watching them and stayed for over half an hour. Then we continued to search as we spotted another very large flock of birds in the distance towards the Hvalfjödur. Sure enough, we encountered a minke whale underneath! It moved randomly, obviously chasing the food under the surface, but we got some great views non the less. Only as time began to run out did we return to the harbour, eager to go on our evening trip.
- Elena Gutiérrez
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We went out searching for whales in the beautiful weather, it was sunny and the sea was perfectly calm. After sailing for a while we spotted some awesome white-beaked dolphins, or about 8-9 of them in two seperate groups. It was a wonderful encounter where we could spend a while with the animals as they swam around our boat and even under it, and also leaping out of the air like the athletes they are! Another wonderful tour with Elding.
-Kristín Viðja
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE| 09:00
Report from Eldey: Another lovely summer morning. It is always such a joy to leave the harbour with sunshine and a visibility that simply can't get any better. The volcano Snaefellsjökull with its snow covered crater was perching on the horizon in the distance and it was not long before we found a minke whale feeding. It was so easy to follow because it kept coming up for 4 slow breaths before diving deeper and staying under for a little less than 5 minutes. As everyone got great views and the bay was just calling for us to explore some more, we couldn't resist to move on. Only to quickly find a pod of 6 extremely playful white-beaked dolphins that came to bow ride on us and one of our RIB boats, then went jumping around and came back to bow ride. What an energy. Probably just like us they just enjoy these summer days. And to end the tour, we had some cute harbour porpoises greeting us returning into the harbour.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Birds seen today: northern gannet, common guillemot, black-legged kittiwake, lesser black-backed gull, atlantic puffin, arctic tern, manx shearwater, eider duck, northern fulmar, black guillemot.
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. The seas should be calm today, but 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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