Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: What an E-x-t-r-a-o-r-d-i-n-a-r-y midnight tour that we have had! We started with a little bit of delay because in the previous tour they found a rare sighting just in front of the harbour, so as soon as our boat arrived we ran into it like cheetahs and with good reasons. It didn't take more than 10 minutes when we spotted our first cetacean, and it wasn't only one. Next to Hvalfjörður we saw two incredible humpback whales traveling together! They were moving around slowly, without hurries, enjoying the midnight sun with us. Both of them were surfacing almost in synchrony and we could clearly see their white flipper when one of them appeared just next to our ship. Their blows in the distance with the sun reflection was an amazing picture that will be recorded in our retinas forever. After a while with our humpies, we decided to try our luck and venture a little bit more into Faxafloi. Weather conditions were worst but our bravest passengers enjoyed a good taste of the north Atlantic. When we were thinking about coming back to the harbour, suddenly two white-beaked dolphins appeared from nowhere. They were swimming around without hurries and we were able to see their white bands next to the dorsal fin. We came back to Reykjavik with live music on board, amused by our extraordinary tour. Definitely, a worthy experience to do while in Iceland.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 17.00
Report from Elding: This tour was very different. Instead of us finding the whales, we were found by them. It took us almost 2 hours to spot the first sign of a whale. We saw the sickle-shaped dorsal fin of a minke whale. Unfortunately, this minke whale was very elusive and we could only see it two more times in some distance to our vessel before it disappeared. Unsatisfied with this sighting we had to turn the vessel to sail back home as we were very far out in the bay. But then we were surprised by a minke whale popping up right in front of us. It surfaced 3 times in less then 10 m to our boat giving the few people which resisted rain and wind the great chance to see this animal very close. But the even bigger surprise was awaiting us close to the harbour - a pair of humpback whales. Just a few minutes before we reached the harbour we saw two big blows coming up from the water surface. This couple was obviously waiting for us. Even the sun came out and everyone got to enjoy these beautiful giants surfacing slowly only 50 m away from the boat. A tour starting slowly but with a finish to remember!!!
- Nicole Koestner
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We started our tour heading in the direction where we had seen animals at our previous trip. There was still a lot of birds feeding in the area, and also five other whale-watching boats, so to respect code of conduct we decided to wait till it will be less crowed. Birds were giving us a lot of fun when we were watching them hunting for small fish and also trying to still prey one from another. Watching bigger animals required from us more of patience. It takes a while but minke whale appearing very close to our boat was worthy of waiting. Animal surface three times just in front of us. Later on between flock of guillemot sitting on the water we found another minke whale, again very close to our boat. It was very satisfying day!
- Ewa Malinowska
Tour at 13.00
Report from Eldey: It was a fine day as we set sail into the bay, the sea was fairly calm and we had just a little wind. The cetaceans were being a bit tricky to spot today, so it may of seemed a bit like whale waiting but luckily it was not to last. A minke whale popped up only a hundred meters in front and while we were waiting for this one to resurface another two whales surfaced to our starboard side, under a flock of feeding seabirds. These birds were a wonderful indicator as to where the whales would surface next. Both these animals surfaced multiple times and very slowly allowing us a lovely look at their grey bodies. So as not to disturb these animals for too long we left and found yet more minkes which also surfaced very nicely one just 5 meters from the boat! What a lovely day to be out at sea.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 10.00
Report from Hafsúlan: With an overcast sky but only little wind, we had very promising spotting conditions. And sure enough, it didn't take us long to spot an area with a lot of birdlife where we of course headed. We slowed our speed once we got there. Soon enough, we spotted 3 minke whales, all surfacing at nearly the same time. They were fairly elusive, so we kept going and after only a few minutes spotted another minke that surfaced around the boat 5 times, really slowly and nice to see. Once we left this individual, we were actually surprised by our fifth minke, coming up to breathe very close to the boat unexpectedly. We also stayed with this one for a while and then headed back to the harbour satisfied.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 9.00
Report from Eldey: Despite the light rain and some wind on this morning tour the sea was very calm and there was almost no swell. Nevertheless, today we had to search for quite a while to find some wildlife. And later on we found out why. It seemed that this morning everything was happening in quite a small area in the southern part of Faxafloi. Here, suddenly we found several flocks of hundreds of birds feeding. But not only the birds were feeding. We also saw at least 6 minke whales in this area. While the most of them were rather elusive and kept some distance to us, two individuals came very close and surfaced together right in front of us. As these whales are usually spotted swimming alone, this was also a surprise for the crew, seeing these two surfacing simultaneously. After this very close encounter we had a good look at another minke whale which surfaced a couple of times in front of the boat before we had to turn our vessel to go back home.
- Nicole Koestner
Birds seen on todays tours: Black-legged Kittiwake, Atlantic Puffin, Northern Gannet, Northern Fulmar, Common Guillemot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Arctic Skua, Manx Shearwater and European Cormorant.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. There is little wind today so the sea conditions should be good. For those sensitive to motion sickness we do provide seasickness tablets to take before the tour, free of charge! For any further information please contact our ticket office at elding@elding.is or by phone at +354 519 5000.
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