Tour Status: RUNNING
Tour at 17:00
Report from Elding: Still summer feeling on this tour even though the clouds were covering the sky in the meantime. After sailing for some time we spotted the first dorsal fins of some rather shy white-beaked dolphins, probably 5-8 individuals. We stayed with them for a bit until they decided to check us out and came for a close look. Once again amazing seeing this big dolphins so close crossing under our boat and leaping out of the water! After some time they went on on their journey, so did we and spotted quite quickly our first minke whale. The first one was a bit more elusive and all of a sudden another one came up close to our boat to have a nice look at. In total we saw 6 different individuals, some rather shy but some being not shy at all about us. What a beautiful afternoon out at sea, coming back with a look over the sunset on our back.
- Sarah Kompatscher
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Better late than never - this is the general feeling about the summer season here in Iceland. The persistent sun and the absent of wind provided an enjoyable tour to stay outside. The next 3 hours were very eventful! Our first sighting happened sooner than expected, as some of our passengers were able to see a pod of illusive 4 or 5 harbor porpoises. Not too long after we left the harbor we spotted our first minke whale. It was possible to observe it re-surface a few times as it was traveling, but afterwards it started to be quite illusive and hard to keep track of, reason why we decided to resume our search for something else out there. Later we were able to find a group of 4 quite calm and relaxed white-beaked dolphins that seemed to be resting. All the passengers were very delighted as the animals were popping up really close to our vessel. After everybody got enough time to make all the mandatory recordings and photographs, we left these pod. Later on we spotted another minke whale in the distance. As we approached the area we realized there at least 2 other of the same species around us. We were able to keep track of the animals and stay for a while. On our way back towards the harbor we were surprised by another pod of 4 or 5 white-beaked dolphins. These ones were quite playful as they were breaching and jumping, building up a great finale for our tour!
- Ines Cunha
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: After a rainy summer, the weather conditions were suspiciously good this morning, the kind of conditions too good to be true... No wind, flat sea, sunshine, pretty warm... Something that comes out of a fairy tale. And the dream did come true! These conditions sustained during the entire our and even improved along the way! And of course, the whole picture was made perfect by the occurrence of cetaceans. First, there was a pod of 5-7 shy harbour porpoises, then a pod of 4-6 white-beaked dolphins that, without being elusive, did not allow us too close. We then went further away and found no less than 4 minke whales surrounding us! After enjoying them for a while, we left and found some more dolphins, probably about a dozen of them, and they displayed a quite interesting behaviour of swimming tightly to each others and running in circles, sometime on the top of each others, which led us to think they might have been some mating happening. It was truly a wonderful show, ending a perfect morning!
- Guillaume Calcagni
Bird species seen on today's tour include: eider duck, shag, glaucous gull, greater black- backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, northern gannet & northern fulmar