FRIDAY, 29 JULY 2016

Tour at 20:30 

CANCELLED

Tour at 17:00

Report from Elding: The sea conditions had been pretty rough throughout the day but the sea was calmer when we headed out. It was quite warm as well which was nice. We decided to head straight for the area where we saw the humpback whale on the last tour so we had been sailing for while when we got a call from another whale watching boat telling us they were watching a minke whale. When we got there it had gone for a deeper dive and unfortunately we didn't see it resurface. The search continued until it was time to head back to the harbour but unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our search for cetaceans. This is unpredictable wildlife so there are no guarantees but of course we are always disappointed when we don't see something. Therefore we offered all of our passengers complimentary tickets which are valid for two years so they can come on another whale watching tour with us and hopefully we will have better luck next time!

- Bryndís Ösp

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We started towards the north on this afternoon tour. The mountains and the shore gave us some protection against the worst swell so the sailing was pretty nice at the start. We turned out in the bay in line with the town of Akranes. We searched for a long time but nothing to show. At the end we could join the 13-tour with the humpback whales they saw. We ended up following one individual for three deep dives. On the first dive we got to see the big fluke coming out of the water which made everyone onboard very happy. A long search but we got our reward at the end with a humpback whale. Over and Out!

- Marcus Bergström

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: When we sailed out we knew that the weather conditions would still be quite rough so the captain decided to stay closer to land. We got some really nice views of the landscape and especially near Akranes there was a lot of birdlife. We heard that there was humpback whale in the area so we decided to sail towards it, we saw the whale surface a few times and then lost it for a little while and all of the sudden it surfaced right next to the boat. All passengers got a good look at the animal before we head back. On our way back we were also treated to some views of a pod of 5 Atlantic white beaked dolphins.

- Anouk de Plaa

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: When we sailed out we didn't get far before one of the puffin tour boats called us back because they saw a humpback whale around the puffin islands. This is not a common sight but it is happening a couple of times each summer. We turned around and arrived to the islands 20 minutes later. We scan the whole inner part of the bay but no whale wanted to resurface. The bird activity told us though that the area was good and probably a lot of fish or krill in the bay. We had to leave the islands and headed further out to continue searching. The time lost around the island made it difficult to have time to search the outer part of the bay so we had to turn back home empty handed on this tour. Sometime you take a chance and it either pays off or not, today we were unlucky. Therefor we offered all passengers a complimentary ticket so they can return for another whale watching tour with us. Over and Out!

- Marcus Bergström

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey:A little blustery today causing choppy seas, however our captain Jon kept the boat steady as possible in the swell. It took us roughly 50 minutes to see our first cetacean, a blow far in the distance under a flock of seabirds. A humpback whale that came up a few times but always kept it's distance and then became more difficult. We like to call these the grumpy humpies. At one point two minke whales also showed up and soon we had minke whales on both sides of the boat and a humpback whale in front of us. It was hard to know where to look with out missing anything. A small pod of harbour porpoises, maybe 2 or 3 individual splashed to the surface just a couple of meters from the boat, surfing the swell just under the surface. Always fun to watch but difficult to show to the passengers as they were so fast. We then got word of a humpback whale very close to land but once there and searching it was impossible to find. Plenty to see but difficult to follow today. Wildlife can be tricky sometimes. 

- Megan Whittaker

Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, manx shearwater, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, glaucous gull, kittiwake, black-headed gull, arctic tern, common guillemot, puffin, black guillemot, greylag goose, arctic skua, purple sandpiper, whimbrel, bar-tailed godwit, meadow pipit, red-breasted merganser and eider duck.  

 

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on another beautiful day. There is some wind out on the Faxabay so there will be movement on the boat.