Tour at 17:00
The weather was still nice and we headed to a similar area as on the 13:00 tour. First we spotted harbour porpoises but they swam away from us pretty soon. Then right after we spotted some minke whales, surfacing a couple of times before deep diving. Then we had similar sightings as on the 13:00 tour, some really good minkes close to us that were surfacing again and again and also minke whales surfacing in the distance. Once there were a couple of very synchronized minke whales surfacing close together at the same time :-) Then our captain got a call from his friend, the captain on Reykjavík harbour's tugboat Magni: He had spotted a BASKING SHARK close to Engey (right next to the puffin island Akurey). We haven't seen any basking sharks this year and last year we only saw them once! This was really good news for us and we left the whale watching area early and headed towards the harbour again. We spotted the shark fin close to Engey and it was hard to tell who was more excited, the passengers or the crew! :-D The basking shark is the second largest fish in the world (only the whale shark is larger) and they are 6- 8 meters long on average but can reach a length of 12 meters. On average they weigh around 10 tonnes but can be up to 19 tonnes (!). Sharks aren't mammals like whales are, and they do not have to come up to the surface to breathe, so when they are spotted it is because they are at the surface feeding. They'll swim slowly at the surface with their mouth wide open and filter the water that is pushed through the gills. It is a filter feeder and feeds on plankton, krill and small fish... not on humans ;) It was a really good way to end the day! We hope we'll see the basking shark again!
Tour at 13:00
Report from Elding: The wind had calmed down a lot and we had very nice weather! Once out in Faxaflói bay we got to an area with at least about twenty minke whales. They were spread out over a large area and we sailed for a long time just between them and from one whale to another one. They were feeding there. Again and again one of the whales approached the boat and came very close, maybe ten or twenty meters away from the boat! So we got lots of good opportunities to watch them close up! The puffins were almost gone, we spotted only a few out at the ocean and actually none on Puffin island! Maybe the puffin season is now really over!
Report from Hafsúla: It was lovely to go out on the sunny bay this noon after a very windy morning where we had to cancel the 9:00 tour. The sea was rather calm and the visibility was great. We were in one area mainly where we spotted lots of minke whales. Many of them surfaced close to the boat several times, and we could also spot several individuals further away. At one point there were two minke whales surfacing close together at the same time. Really nice tour :-)