FRIDAY, 19 JULY 2019

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  20:30

Report from Elding: Winds were still blowing quite strongly tonight and waves were there, but going along the Snæfellsness peninsula we were rather sheltered. Luckily, clouds were scarce so we could watch the sun approaching the horizon during the trip. We had 2 encounters with white-beaked dolphins tonight. The first was a pod of 5-6 dolphins of which 3 were bow-riding our boat. They stayed for a few minutes to play around our boat and then, suddenly, disappeared. Turning our direction back towards the Hvalfjöður, we encountered another pod of 6 dolphins that showed us some super impressive wave riding-surfing-jumping. And with their bodies glistening in the midnight sun. They were moving quickly and changed direction as they seemed to go hunting for fish, so we moved on towards Reykjavik. The sunset turned the sky a lovely purple and red, making for a scenic sail back.

- Sabrina Voswinkel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  17:00

Report from Eldey: Probably the best tour all day with the weather, the wind calmed down a lot and nice warm winds meant it was a much smoother ride even though there was still a few green faces. We travelled west and after 1 hour we saw a blow about 1km away, a relatively faint blow probably of a minke whale. As we got closer we were right, a minke whale. We were able to follow it for 8-10 breaths and a couple of close surfaces before it went beneath the waves and disappeared. We carried on and after another 20min we found a great spot with a big flock of feeding northern gannets. Then suddenly bigger splashed made by a pod of white-beaked dolphins. They were just amazing, at least 8-10 animals with calves and juveniles. Breaching out of the water just 10 meters from our starboard. So close you could tell the sex of the white-beaked dolphin as female, This was also one of our regular dolphins too called ´Only Gabriela´ a dolphin seen frequently since 2008. Absolutely amazing. 

-  Megan Whittaker

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  14:00

Report from Hafsulan: With a bit less wind and less waves as on the previous tour, but more sunshine throughout most of the tour we went out into Faxafloi Bay one more time today. Although we enjoyed a lot of sea birds all around us while we were sailing along, passing the beautiful scenery of Esja, Akranes and Akrafjall, we were not lucky enough to find any cetaceans on this tour. Therefore we offered all our passengers the chance to come onto another tour with us in the future by getting complimentary tickets. We hope to see them soon again.

-Christina Winkler

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  13:00

Report from Eldey: Off to a rocky start. The waves calmed down so we decided to go more towards the center of the bay; but it was still a bit shaky and quite adventurous. We looked and and looked, squinted our eyes... It was quite hard to distinguish objects on the foamy water surface... but then our captain spotted a flock of feeding birds at 3 o'clock. We headed towards that direction and soon we were amazed. There were dozens of northern gannets, puffins, manx shearwaters and common guillemots caught up in a feeding frenzy, gulping up the fish from the surface. Not much later we saw a huge black back rising up on the surface just below the flock of birds.  It was minke whale! We saw 2-3 of these cetaceans feeding frantically in the area, at times turning to the side, showing their white bellies. It was a marvelous sighting, one that definitely doesn't leave you without an imprint. It's really hard to describe an awesome tour with words, you just had to be there. 

-Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  10:00

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  09:00

Report from Eldey: Very blustery conditions today in the bay of Faxaflói. Much windier than we expected. Luckily we have little swell in the bay so the boat didn´t rock too much. We gained shelter to the north by the mountains and only felt most the movement as we passed Hvalfjörður. We had beautiful views of the landscape, puffins and other sea birds flying past and a lot of fun on the Icelandic seas. Unfortunately, no whales or dolphins were spotted this morning but we enjoyed the tour nonetheless. We were feeling very optimistic on the northern side of Akranes when we sailed near a large flock of feeding frenzy birds; gannets, manx shearwaters, puffins, black-backed gulls mainly but alas sadly no cetaceans. We offered all our lovely passengers complimentary tickets to come again for free in the next two years. 

- Megan Whittaker

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

We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. The seas should be calm today, but 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.