MONDAY, 22 JULY 2019

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  20:30

Report from Hafsulan : We left the rain at Reykjavik to sail in perfect conditions. It was sunny with rainbows and a smooth and flat sea. We didn't need to go really far to found a first pod of white-beaked dolphins. At least 5 inviduals. They seems to enjoy our company, bow riding us, surfacing really close, disappearing underneath the boat and jumping. We saw a minke whale far away and tried to see it again from closer. But the baleen whale didn't show up again. So we went back with the dolphins. The bay was full of them, at least 4-5 pods, some of them jumping under the beautiful sunset. A young juvenile was curious,  We went back home under an amazing red and pink sky.

-Miquel Pons

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  17:00

Report from Eldey: An amazing day today out in the bay, the water was calm and fresh wind coming from the north. We started sailing to our usual spotting area and at the beginning, it seemed like every animals were super busy but suddenly 2 minke whales appeared not too far from the boat so we decided to stay longer  at the area trying to saw them again, they did not showed up so we went towards Akranes and it was the best decision ever. At the distance we saw some splashes and of course, we found 4 pods of 10 white beaked dolphins each jumping out of the water. Nice to saw our youngers passengers enjoyed as they did, so when we were heading back to the harbour we played good music and we had fun on board.

-Jose Manuel Marco

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  14:00

Report from Hafsulan: The weather remained quite calm and warm, providing quite a comfortable ride. We decided to head straight towards the areas where we had our sightings on previous tours. As we approached the zone we felt it was going to be promising as there was some bird activity going on, indicating the possible presence of prey. Soon after we found our first minke whale! We kept track of it for a while and ended up finding a few more later on. By the end of the tour we had observed at least 3 lovely minke whales, at times quite close to our vessel. Another great tour with Elding!

- Inês Cunha

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  13:00

Report from Eldey: This afternoon started out just as beautiful as the morning, with lots of sunshine throughout the tour and mirror calm water in Faxaflói Bay. And it was just about 40 minutes out into the bay until we had our first minke whale encounter. The minke was super easy to follow, with between 3-4 surfaces before going on a longer dive. It also came up a few times really close to the boat, which gave all passengers plenty of opportunity to be amazed about this beautiful animal. while the encounter lasted a second minke whale was in close proximity and could be seen a few times surfacing as well. When we decided to move on it didn´t take long to find our next ceatacean species: a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins, with one smaller juvenile amongst the group. The animals were surfacing around the boat and even leaped out of the water a few times. After diving underneath the boat and other boats approaching the area, we decided to give the animals more space and moved on. On our way back we simply enjoyed the sail, landscape and sunshine and switched on our summer holiday mood.

-Sabrina Voswinkel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: It was a beautiful morning, at first cloudy but after about 20 minutes the clouds were all gone and we enjoyed the sunshine and the perfectly calm ocean. We had to sail for an hour before finding some cetaceans, but we were rewarded for our patience with a large group of around 30-40 white-beaked dolphins!! At first the dolphins were feeding and we had many birds in the area feeding as well - one of the species of birds being the northern gannet, diving into the water from high above the surface. It was spectacular to see, and after a while the dolphins divided into smaller groups, some of them showing us playful behaviours like jumping out of the water, playing around the boat and bow riding! We could even see at least 3 mothers with their very young calves, SO CUTE! We stayed with these animals for long, until our time ran out and we had to go back to the harbour. Ofcourse we would have loved to stay with them the whole day but we were very happy with this incredible encounter!

-Kristín Viðja
 

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  9:00

Report from Eldey: We began with an overcast sky but windstill conditions, the perfect way to start the morning calmly. Despite the clouds hanging low, we still had amazing visibility and could see so far into the distance that we were sure, if anything came to the surface we would find it. Sure enough, by the end of today's tour we saw a total of 5 minke whales all foraging or feeding in a similar area, amidst the bay of Faxaflói. Also the birdlife was very abundant today, puffins hunting eagerly to catch food for their pufflings, guillemots, gulls and many more. A nature filled tour to start off the day and the new week!

- Christina Winkler

Birds seen today: atlantic puffin, common guillemot, northern fulmar, arctic skua, great skua, black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, northern gannet, eider duck, arctic tern.