MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2016

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: A few cracks in the cloud shower greeted us with some rays of the midnight sun as we sailed out of harbour. The volcano Sneafellsjökull was gloving in the setting sun infront of us and it was very beautiful. We searched far and wide on this tour and even with very good spotting conditions we remained fruitless. Towards the end we searched an area where another whale watching boat had a very short glimpse of a minke whale but it was not seen again. We had to head home without a sighting on this tour, this is wildlife and sometimes you just draw the short straw and are unlucky. We of course offered all passengers a complimentary ticket so they can return for another whale watching tour with us. On the way home we still had a wonderful time with the midnight sun in our back and live music onboard! Over and out!

- Marcus Bergström

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: Although it was raining bucketloads in the harbour the lack of rain out to sea really cheered up the mood! The sun was passing through the clouds in little patches and gave a beautiful opalescent shine to the horizon, particularly lighting up Snaefellsjokull. Our first encounter was with a couple of harbour porpoises that were quickly travelling away but were easy to make out amongst the splashes. Soon after that we saw some splashes about 800 m awat, which turned out to be leaping white-beaked dolphin! There were at least 3 individuals in this group jumping for joy, a real pleasure to watch. As we got closer this pod did appear to calm down, however we realised that we wereactually surrounded by at least 20 individuals spread out within 200 m of the boat across all directions, real challenging the photographers on board to capture them all. We stayed with these for over a half an hour, and then headed a further out and came across 2 minke whales behaving quite elusively but finally coming up within 100 m in front of the boat for one last look before heading home.

- Ophelie Humphrey

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: Again we sailed out, this time with less rain and a little bit of sunshine here and there. The sea conditions were still good and so we made our way towards other whale watching boats and a minke whale! It seemed to be on it`s way to another area as it was going at a constant speed in the same direction everytime it surfaced. We got a good look as it was most often only about 100 m or less away from us. After moving on, we came across two more minke whales that we didn't stop for but decided to head further out. On the way we also so a couple of harbour porpoises but they disappeared very quickly. Looking for more cetaceans, we found another minke whale and soon noticed a second individual in the same area, both about 150 m away from us coming up a few times in a row to breathe! Very well to see! However, suddenly another animal appeared close to us as well: a humpback whale! It came up 3 times and then showed us its fluke as it dove down. We had to wait for about 10 minutes, then it came up again but unfortunately it was about 400 m away. Thererfore, we approached it again but soon it was fluking again and disappeared. In the end, we got to see one more surface sequence fairly close to us with another nice fluke-up before it vanished! We waited for about 20 minutes but didn´t see it again and returned to the harbour.

- Hanna Michel

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: After such an unusual morning's sightings we went out into the rain expecting the unexpected! We did not manage to relocate the pilot whale, however after heading out for just under an hour we first came across a minke whale 200 m from the boat with a couple of harbour porpoises 400 m in the same direction. This whale was only surfacing once between dives so we turned around and after travelling only 500 m we came across a second individual! This minke was far smaller, probably a juvenile, and was highly inquisitive of us boats - at one point it came up within 10 m in front of another whale watching boat and then dived down at the last moment! Really unusual behaviour but fascinating for all the passengers. After 20 minutes we left this individual and headed towards a massive flock of birds on the horizon as spotted by the captain. As we got nearer to the birds we spotted a pod of 6 - 8 white beaked dolphin surfacing calmly, as well as another minke whale that at one point zoomed under the surface of the water without breaking the surface but still caused a big bow wave! What a very interesting multi-species encounter to finish the trip on.

- Ophelie Humphrey

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: This morning I woke up with a good feeling. Something was in the air but I did not know what. However, the weather was not very promising. The mist and rain took over as soon as we headed out from the harbor and our overalls were testing their resistance against water for the whole trip. Nonetheless, the sea conditions were pretty good and very favorable for spotting our beloved cetaceans. That gave us some hope we fulfilled after 20 minutes out at sea. Something was coming out of the water in the distance. As we got closer and closer we started to realise that it was not a species of cetacean we normally see in the bay. After some pictures and few words we figured out it was a long-finned pilot whale. The very first one this season! We got really excited about it and so the passengers did too. Its dark black colour and particular head´s size vanished any kind of doubt we´d had before.  After a few minutes with the lonely pilot whale and a few more pictures we headed off further into the bay to look for more species. After 20 minutes of search we got a call from another whale-watching boat in the area. They had seen some other cetaceans around. As fast as we could we went to the place and we found a pod of 5-6 harbour porpoises. Very lovely playful creatures which stayed around us for about 5 minutes more. After they went away we decided to go on with our little morning adventure. All of a sudden our captain spotted a big flock of birds far in the distance. This time those birds were our allies and next to them we saw this big pod of at least 10 white-beaked dolphins. They were all feeding on the shoal of fish close to the surface. I feel very priviledged to have seen that so close to the boat!amazing!. After 20 minutes around them we sailed around in search of some other animals. After 20 more minutes we saw a minke whale! We could even smell its bad breath!disgusting I know but, we were happy to find it! As we were going back home we spotted another one in the distance. We were running out of time so we just kept our way and waved it. I will always remember this trip!unbelievable!

- Jorge Pascual

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: Our departure was slightly rainy, but we were lucky enough to have fantastic conditions with light gray sea, weak wind and good visibility. Better than that, it was not cold out there, a special treat for Iceland ! It was not long until we spotted our first cetacean in the distance. We sighted a solitary animal having a large black back, thus we thought that we had found a minke whale. But the closer we got, the more obvious it was that we were in the presence of another species. It took much more time than it is reasonable to admit for the 2 guides + the 2 researchers on board to finally identify this animal, as it was porpoising fastly, and as we had troubles to process what was happening in front of our eyes. It was a lonely long-finned pilot whale ! Those cetaceans are rare in our bay, and they are known to travel in pods that can reach an astonishing number of 50 members. Thus, it was hard to conceive having one traveling alone in the area, it was a fantastic moment of confusion and excitement ! Sadly, this individual seemed lost and confused, maybe sick or hurt, it was dashing toward land and ended up swimming in circles, always at a high pace. Hopefully it got its sense back later on this day ! We stayed with this pilot whale long enough for other whale watching boats to be able to join us and have looks at this special guest, and we started to sail further away. We successively met a pod of 3-5 shy harbour porpoises that only allowed us to get few glances, and a pod 4-6 white-beaked dolphins. Those dolphins were relaxing and resting at the surface of the water, which helped us to have many close looks at them. It was peaceful encounter, in contrast with the fast moving pilot whale. Eventually we had to get back to Reykjavik, still under light rain but as well in pleasant temperatures.

- Guillaume Calcagni

Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern fulmar, atlantic puffin, lesser black-backed gull, northern gannet, arctic skua, arctic tern, common guillemot and kittiwake

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a very rainy day. There is not much wind but there could be some movement on the boat out on the Faxa bay.