Sunday, 13 August

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00. 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 19:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land.   

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in this beautiful morning, the sun in the sky and our hopes up. From the very beginning, a small group of 3 harbour porpoises was seen from a few passengers, giving us a good omen for the rest of the tour. As we furthered our search in the bay, a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins came across our path, bowriding several times before leaving us to look for something else. As we passed several flocks of birds and as the wind started picking up, 4 minke whales appeared consecutively to feed close to us. After enjoying this close encounter with such a shy species, we decided to head back home. But a pod of 8 white beaked dolphins appeare not far away, jumping about. As we slowly headed home, these dolphins bowrided with us for a small while, as a last entertaining vision.

- Alexandre Paumier

Report from Hafsulan: calm seas and super sunny, warm weather this morning. Perfect weather for sunbathing while keeping a lookout for whales! And we needed to have a constant lookout, as the ones we got to see were quite fast moving and spending a lot of time underwater. It took us almost an hour before we got to see our first minke whales, in an area that appeared to be rich in the small fish upon which the whales and seabirds feed. They seemed to be 6 young, small minkes that were steering very often and quickly around our ship, coming up to breathe to then dive down immediately to reach their meal. An interesting behavior that we could observe a few times was lunge feeding, which consists in the whale taking a leap when they quickly snap a bite on a school of fish located close to the surface of the water. One of this lunge feedings in particular was quite a rare sight, as we got to see the white belly of the whale quickly coming out of the water! After being in the eye of the hurricane of whales for some time we decided to move to another location, as in the area where we were the waves were high enough to make the ride quite rocky and uncomfortable. Therefore we moved closer to Reykjavik, were we found another minke which was travelling north. We followed this individual for a little while, but then we had to steer towards the harbor, concluding this exciting trip.

- Francesco Golin

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in this sunny summer afternoon, trying to reiterate the sightings from this morning. After noticing several splashes in the distance, we joined a zone full of activity: with several flocks of birds surrounding us, with lots of gannets dive plunging! Joining all the birds on their feast were 5 minke whales which around us in all directions, for a prolonged time. In this full on minke-madness, 2 of them came up to lunge feed quite enthusiastically, whilst others roamed around the boat up until we sailed back home.

- Anna Richter

Report from Hafsulan. The sun was shining bright as we set sail from Reykjavik harbour. Calm seas and a light breeze through out the tour. We had to travel far out in the bay before we saw our first cetacean. It was a feeding minke whale and in the same area we would see 5 individuals later on. We were lucky enough to see the occasional lunch feed. We continued further out hoping to spot a different specie, and soon enough we saw 2 white beaked dolphins. They came close to us for a while but then vanished. A beautiful tour in the bay.

Ludvig Hultgren Svensson

Report from Eldey: Once again we set sail today, enjoying the blue skies and seas. In the harbour it was warm and calm but once we ventured further out we noticed that the winds had picked up a bit. On our sail out we spotted a blow on our left, a minke whale appeared! At the same time we also spotted a pod of 3 white beaked dolphins! However both species were a bit more on the elusive side so we decided to continue on. After a bit more of sailing we spotted another pod of white beaked dolphins. This was a pod of 6 individuals that were clearly busy feeding. At one point they swam directly under us and we could see their white pattern on their side through the waters surface. They were fairly preoccupied with feeding however and only stayed with us for a few moments. We therefore decided to do a loop through the bay to make sure we didn't miss anything. Sadly everyone was busy feeding and did not want to show themselves much so in the end we handed out complimentary tickets so that everyone has the chance to come again for free!

- Alexandre Paumier

Report from Elding: We set sail under the bright sun with a gentle breeze. It didn't take too long for us to find out first cetaceans: white beaked dolphins (5 individuals). They were very playful as we approached them, jumping lots. Then they started to come closer to us and were bow-riding. Then suddenly they vanished so we carried on. We then saw a blow in front of us, from a minke whale. It was quite elusive and we could see many diving Northern gannets ahead so we headed to them. In this area we saw 2-3 more minkes but again, very elusive. We then had to turn around as we were very far out and suddenly all these cetaceans came to life. A few minkes started to surface really regularly close to the boat giving our passengers a great look at them. We probably saw 6-7 minkes in total during this tour. Next we saw another pod of jumping dolphins (7 individuals). These ones stuck around too and jumped so close to our boat, it was amazing to watch. It started off a bit tricky but this ended up being a fantastic tour.

- Rob Hyman

Arctic tern, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, common guillemot, manx shearwater, sooty shearwater, herring gull, black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, Atlantic puffin, eider duck