FRIDAY, 12 JULY 2019

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  09:00

Report from Eldey: Overcast, overcast, overcast. Business as usual. Having quite the cheerful and engaged group of people today on board made it easier to spot the animals and to have an overall awesome experience intensified. We had about 15 white-beaked dolphins playing, jumping and hunting around the boat. We managed to take some really good pictures of them too. Luckily enough we had also almost a dozen minke whales feeding in the area, at times as close as 40 meters from the boat. The bay was quite active, as all of these mammals plus the awesome puffins and northern gannets were all actively feeding on and below the surface. Marvelous.

-Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Again the sea looked like a mirror today, there was no wind and the sun even tried to fight it's way through the clouds. After sailing out for about 45 minutes, we came across at least 3 pods of white-beaked dolphins, 10-13 individuals, spread out over a wide area. Some of them were jumping, but otherwise these dolphins were very relaxed, staying around the boat for quite some time. All of a sudden a minke whale popped up in the same area and then another. Both of these whales were surfacing just next to each other, always coming to the surface 3 times, before going down for a longer dive. Once they were really close to our boat and we could even hear their breath. It was a lovely encounter, Another pod of 9-11 white-beaked dolphins caught our attention. They were playing hide and seek with us, going for a dive underneath the boat and coming up in the back. They were a few calves in this pod, always surfacing together with the mother. Towards the end another pod of 7-10 dolphins was getting very active, jumping a lot and feeding together with some seabirds. Wildlife everywhere this morning.

- Diana Besel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  13:00

Report from Eldey: This tour was amazing. A light wind and a perfectly smooth sea during the 3 hours made this trip too short. First we encounter a minke whale. It was swimming really calmly, probably sleeping, so we enjoyed its company during a peaceful moment. A few moments later we cross a small pod of harbour porpoises. And 3 more minke whales feeding near several flock of birds! The best for the last, we finish our afternoon tour with an amazing sighting of 2 humpbacks whales with a calf, surrounded by a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins. The interaction between those species was incredible to watch. It seems that the dolphins were bothering the calf protected by the large humpback whales. It was a spectacular show with splashes, big blows, pectoral fins in the air, dolphins jumping... Breath-taking !

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  14:00

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  17:00

Report from Eldey: We had a single mission on this tour: find the humpback whales. We did. The female and the calf seemed quite relaxed after the stressful bothering of the white-beaked dolphins from the previous tour. The adult went down to feed, while the calf stayed on the surface. It was clumsy and it didn't look like it mastered the art of deep diving yet, leading us to suspect that it might not be a year old yet. It was truly a splendid sea adventure, where we could really appreciate nature in all its beauty and witness the power of the bond between a mother and her child in the shape of a huge fish-like mammal.

-Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  20:30 

Report from Hafsúlan: The conditions were absolutely flawless, no wind and mirror flat seas. The first sighting of te tour were 2-3 harbour porpoises that slowly passed the boat. After a thorough search for the humpback whales without success we traveled to new areas and soon found 3 more harbour porpoises and 2 minke whales. One of these minke whales was feeding within a flock of active birds. It was a peaceful moment, with the boat stopped we watched the animals actively feeding. On the way back a pod of 7-8 white beaked dolphins gave us a thrilling performance. They were definitely the stars of the tour after breaching, leaping and bow riding around us. What a wonderful time at sea. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Birds species seen today: Atlantic puffin, norhern gannet, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, arctic skua, arctic tern, razorbill, manx shearwater, either duck, graylag goose, oyster catcher.