MONDAY, 06 JULY 2015

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: We headed out sailing west in a little bit of wind and swells on this midnight tour. After 30 minutes of sailing we had our first encounter with cetaceans. A single harbour porpoise joined us and bow-rided us for a short while, giving us short but great views of this otherwise elusive species. We had just lost the porpoise when a minke whale surfaced right infront of us. The whale continued on its course giving us good views as it traveled away. We got information of more minke whales further out in the bay by another whale watching boat. We didn´t go far before we were lucky to encounter jumping white-beaked dolphins! We soon got surrounded by dolphins and it was several pods with at least more than 30 individuals all together during the tour. After some traveling we saw a huge splash in the distance only meaning one thing, a jumping whale! We hurried to get closer but unfortunately we couldn't´t find the whale, that must have been a humpback whale... We had time to check out one area with many birds before we had to start heading back.

- Marcus Bergström 

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The wind had picked up from earlier in the day and we had a few whitecaps on the surface as we made our way out in to the bay. This meant spotting was going to be a little more diffucult. After about 25 minutes we spotted our first of 5 minke whales, which was a very shy individual. We waited for two more surfaces before moving on to find a less timid individual. Suddenly in the distance we saw rather large splashes about 3 km away so we steamed in that direction. However as we steamed in that direction a minke whales surfaced only 150metres from the boat. Again we stopped and again this minke was elusive. We moved towards a large shoal of fish that had birds diving in to it. We spotted several more minkes, We also had some lovely sights of 5 sleepy white beaked dolphins that hung out near the surface. After a few more  sightings we had to turn back towards Reykjavik. 

- Tommy Torrades 

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: This trip was guided both in English and Icelandic since there were many Icelandic speaking passengers on board.The winds were picking up when we left Reykjavík and when we entered the whale spotting area we sighted our first minke whale. We traveled further into the area where all the whales had been earlier in the day but instead there was now a big flock of birds and no whales sighted in that area. After stopping to watch the gannets dive for a minute we headed onwards and spotted a pair of minkes traveling together. They came up very close to our boat and then disappeared off towards Hvalfjörður, possibly it was the same pair as we'd spotted earlier in the day. We then slowly headed back towards Reykjavík when we spotted a pod of 7 white beaked dolphins. They were traveling out of the bay and stopped for a short while to check us out before continuing on. The last minke off the trip was sighted shortly thereafter, but it was spotted at some distance and didn't want to hang around. We headed back with the wind in

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Conditions got worse compared to our morning trip. The visibility was still good and the sea was still calm, but a heavy wind was blowing when we went out in the bay. This did not harmed our enthusiasm and we sailed with high hopes. The spotting was a little bit difficult but we finally encountered a pod of white-beaked dolphins. This group was not particularly in the mood to be watched so they eventually swam away. In our way to find more species we came across a minke whale traveling very fast. Obviously this one was very busy traveling away. We could take only few looks before it vanished. We kept on our way and met a flock of birds fishing. Once again a lot of northern gannets were diving all around the boat to catch food. Birds were not the only feeding, as we saw two more minke whales taking long deep dives and only surfacing one or two times to breathe. We could see them resting sometimes before getting back at work. In this area, two harbour porpoises dared to show themselves before quickly disappearing. The wind had lessened during our way back, allowing us to enjoy a quiet travel.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: The day started with a slow warm breeze and high hopes for the day after the spectacular week we'd been having before. We didn't even get to finish the sight seeing/clock practice when we spotted the first individual. In that area we spotted 7 minke whales which is very special since baleen whales usually don't like to congregate. We traveled further out, encountered even more minke whales and finally came upon a white beaked dolphin gold mine! There were 7 pods at varying distances all heading the same way, some were jumping and twisting in the air while others came very close to our boat. The 7 pods all consisted of 3-5 individuals, the more numerous ones both had a calf with them. On our way back we made a small bump on our way to check out Hvalfjörður where we thought we might have glimpsed a humpback earlier in the day. It turned out to bee 3 minke whales traveling very close to each other, probably a female with a young adult pair and another adult in a good feeding area.

- Svala Jónsdóttir

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This day started with a lovely tour. Quickly after setting sail in perfect sighting conditions (flat sea and almost no wind), we met a pod of white-beaked dolphins. This group was shy and we spotted numerous animals surfacing further offshore so we did not stay with them for a long time. We traveled a little bit more to find another pod of white-beaked dolphins together with 3 minke whales. The dolphins were very relaxed, not swimming away from us and allowing us very close looks. Soon we were surrounded by minke whales while witnessing dolphins jumping and leaping from far away. A very nice but somehow confusing experience, since there was a lot to see everywhere. We eventually sailed further offshore to find ourselves in the middle of a huge flock of feeding birds. Northern gannets were diving everywhere around us, looking like arrows piercing the sea. A lonely juvenile of harbour seal even joined the party for our greatest enjoyment ! Here we could see more of white-beaked dolphins and minke whales before we had to head back to Reykjavik. A very fine way to start the day.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Birds seen on todays tour include: kittiwakes,greater and lesser black-backed gulls, arctic terns, arctic skuas, northern gannets, atlantic puffins, common guillemots, northern fulmars, european storm petrels, manx shearwaters.