FRIDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2016

Status: RUNNING 9AM and 1PM

We are sailing out from Reykjavik Harbour today.The forecast predicts a little wind from the southeast and we could experience some swells.

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sea conditions were just perfect on the very first 9 AM tour of the year. We enjoyed the sun rising above the Blue Mountains as we sailed out and also got to see the rest of the breath-taking landscape surrounding the bay. First, we headed straight out and after about 45 min reached an area with an incredible number of birds. Large flocks of birds were sitting on the water surface all around us or gracefully flying by. Even as we were sailing on we saw a large variety of the Icelandic bird species around us keeping us company. In these conditions it would have been quite easy to spot cetaceans from far away, but even though we covered a large part of the bay and made several circles in promising areas, we didn't find any cetaceans. Therefore, we offered our passengers the complimentary so that they can come with us on another tour within the next two years for free. However, the tours on the last two days were really good and more boats will be out in this afternoon -  then hopefully we will be more successful. 

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather was still amazing when we sailed out on our second tour today, it even felt warmer with the sun higher in the sky. After around 40 minutes we heard news from another whale watching boat, they had seen dolphins. As soon as we turned around to hopefully see the dolphins as well we saw a blow 400 meters away. This was a minke whale! After about 20 minutes with the minke we lost it and decided to head to the area where the dolphins had been seen. We sailed for a short time when we saw a minke whale again! This time the animal was more elusive and it was difficult to photograph the whale while it traveled fast east. We left the minke again to search for dolphins, this time we went far out and found huge flocks of birds but no dolphins. On our way back to Reykjavík we saw a minke whale again! This time it got closer to us, so close we could easily hear the sound of its breath.

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir 

Bird species seen on today's tours include: cormorants, eider ducks, northern fulmars, northern gannets, Iceland gulls, glaucous gulls, kittiwakes and great black-backed gulls.