SUNDAY, 4 AUGUST 2019

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  19:00

Report from Elding: Finally the sun had appeared in the sky for the midnight sun tour. However, the animals kept us waiting a little bit longer on this tour. Again we had to head out very far until we saw the first splashes appear in the distance. A large pod of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins was pulling off an incredible show for us. They were swimming right next to the bow of the boat, jumping constantly nearby and following the boat for a very long time. We were surrounded by these beautiful cetaceans and just enjoyed these sightings of jumping dolphins, while the sun was slowly setting. There were also a lot of northern gannets around, when heading out and also on the way back, plunge diving into the water. Another incredible evening in Faxaflói Bay. 

- Diana Besel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  17:00

Report from Eldey: The weather was holding up throughout our last tour, with a bit of sunshine breaking through the clouds. Once more we set out into Faxafloi bay and this time it took us only half an hour until we spotted our first cetacean: 1 of a tour total of 3 harbour porpoises . This shy animal kept surfacing only a few times before it disappeared and we continued our search. After about an hour we found our first of 2 minke whales. The animal seemed to be feeding on the bottom of the bay, staying underwater for 5-7 minutes before surfacing 3 times and diving for longer again. We were able to stay with the animal for about 30 minutes before we decided to head further out into the bay and look for more wildlife. We did spot another minke whale and 2 more porpoises on our tour, but both times the animals were very elusive. So we enjoyed our sail back with some nice music in the most beautiful beginning sunset.

-Jose Manuel Marco

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  14:00

Report from Hafsulan: The sea was flat and calm. A smooth breeze was blowing from the west, just keeping ourselves awake. After roughly an hour sailing, a lot of active birds were spotted in the distance. Once we got to the area, we lived an amazing show. Thousands of birds feeding, schools of fish moving in the water and at least, 8 minke whales feeding around us! It was amazing! They were 1 metre away from us again and again, eating really close to the sea surface showing us the whole rostrum. What a pleasure! Everybody had a big smile when we got back to the harbour. Such a wonderful tour! 

- Elena Gutiérrez Ruiz

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  13:00

Report from Eldey: This afternoon started out with similar weather conditions as this morning: almost no wind, only very small waves and overcast. Thus we had perfect conditions to spot some whales, which we did after about an hour drive. And what a spectacle it was. It all started with two big flocks of seabirds, busily feeding on the water surface and soon we also saw an estimated total of 6 minke whales all around us. The whales were also busy feeding and caused quite some excitement amongst the birds and our passengers. We were able to stay for a while, enjoying the animals all around us. After there were about 7 whale watching boats in the area we decided to move on and found a small pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins before we had to head back to the harbour. Those beautiful animals were as usual very nice to watch, but kept avoiding our boat. As we respect whatever mood the animals on tours are in, we gave them their space and enjoyed a smooth ride back to the most northern capitol city in the world: Reykjavik.

-Christina Winkler

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Smooth seas and little wind made for another great morning tour. Our first sighting happened very close to the town of Akranes, where we spotted splashes in the distance. Once we got closer to the area, a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins was greeting us there. They came very close to the boat, just playing around our bow, did a lot of jumping and were really easy to follow underneath the surface, due to their beautiful grey and white coloration. It was an amazing encounter. We kept going and after another 20 minutes we came across an area with 4 minke whales, feeding together with a flock of seabirds. The birds were constantly changing directions and so were the whales, since they were all just following the fish moving around. We got to see the whales surfacing at various directions and distances from the boat, sometimes coming up right in front of us! Another great day to be out in the bay.  

- Diana Besel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  09:00

Report from Eldey: The weather could not be better: flat seas and no wind. Our brave passengers were ready for this amazing adventure, so we headed out to our usual spotting area. We saw a lot of seabirds flying around the boat even baby puffins could be seen on the water surface. After half an hour sailing we spotted splashes in the distance and once we got there 2 huge pods of 20 white-beaked dolphins each were jumping out of the water. We could stay for a while seeing how these beautiful animals play with our boat. There is always a challenge, so we tried to find bigger animals and we found 3 minke whales at the same time, feeding exactly beneath a flock of birds. It was a really nice tour and we headed back to the harbour with a big smile on our face.

-Jose Manuel Marco

Bird species identified today: atlantic puffin, arctic tern, northern fulmar, northern gannet, lesser black-backed gull, manx shearwater, black-legged kittiwake, arctic skua, great skua, brünnich guillemot, common guillemot, arctic tern.

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.