Tour at 13.00
Report from Eldey: The weather was surprisingly stable today giving us a very nice afternoon tour today. Heading out we soon came across a few harbour porpoises (3-4), before encountering a group a white-beaked dolphins further out in the Bay. The dolphins, maybe 5-6 individuals, were quite scattered which made it hard to get a nice look at them but still we managed to get fairly close so everyone was able to see their cool colouration.After ca. 20 min we decided to leave them in peace and keep searching and after just a few minutes more saw another group of these dolphins. This time it was 7-8 individuals and they were a bit easier to watch even though they were a bit scattered as well. However, they were more curious than the first group and got close and surfaced around the bow and on all sides of the boat - very nice to watch! Before turning back to the harbour we wanted to look for a minke whale as well, but as we moved on, one of our deckhands spotted an animal a few hundred meters behind us. In turned out to be a humpback whale! We saw a few really big blows and then finally a dark back and also the tail rising above the water surface as the animal went for a dive. Unfortunately it was a "grumpy humpy" - that's what we call humpback whales that stay underwater for a really long time and only come up once before going for another dive which makes it quite difficult to get a good view. However, I think most passengers managed to spot it at least one of the three times we got a look at the animal, especially the last time when is gracefully "fluked" again. On our way back we saw another group of white-beaked dolphins, probably 4-5 animals, but throughout the tour we had seen more of them also jumping in the distance. And harbour porpoises were also very abundant today, we probably saw a total of 20-25 porpoises on this tour. Great day to be out on a boat!
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 9.00
Report from Eldey: This morning we sailed out from the old harbour in Reykjavik under a beautiful clear blue sky. Although we had some strong winds, the sea was very calm and we enjoyed the magnificent view at the surrounding landscape when we were heading out. After about 45 min of sailing we stopped for a group of 3-5 Harbour Porpoises, which were swimming parallel to the boat and allowed the most of our passengers a close look at them. Briefly after this first cetacean encounter, we spotted a blow in some distance. Although we headed towards this area, we unfortunately were not able to spot this individual again. But only a few minutes later we got a call from one of the other whale watching boats that they had spotted a Minke Whale a little further out. So, our captain turned the vessel in that direction and after a few minutes we carefully approached the area. Nevertheless, it took us some time to spot the animal again. But just briefly after some surfacings of this individual, there was a second Minke Whale coming up just behind us, surprising everyone standing in the back of the boat. In some distance, we saw blows of at least one more Minke Whale. While these big beauties were rather elusive today and might have been busy feeding only coming up to the surface for short times, our passengers also enjoyed the presence of some Harbour Porpoises. Later on, some of these smaller cetaceans also joined us on our tour back to the harbour. What a great morning!
Bird species seen on today's tour include: eider duck, northern gannet, northern fulmar, brent goose, kittiwake and Atlantic puffin
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on this beautiful and sunny day. Hope you are able to join us on our search of these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
