Tour at 20:30
Unfortunately we had to cancel the last tour of the day due to rough weather conditions.
Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the evening, the wind had picked up a bit and rain clouds covered the sky. A short visit at Akurey, the puffin island, revealed that there were only very few puffins at home, but we were happy to find at least some representatives of the population. Heading out further, we found it quite hard to spot whales. Early in the tour, a black dorsal fin was seen a couple of times by different apssengers, but we were not able to re-spot the animals. However, suddenly many passengers pointed at three o'clock and there it was, a Minke Whale. We saw it surfacing 3 to 5 times, but then lost its track since it was changing direction frequently. We decided to go and find something else and just when we decided to head back towards Reykjavik a big surprise happened: We saw huge splashes in the distance what turned out to be a couple of jumping Minke Whales lifting their whole bodies out of the water. Due to the wind and waves, we were not able to get very close, but seeing these large animals jump high, causing big splashes was clearly very special and exciting even from the distance!
- Hendrik Schultz
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: The wind had picked up a bit from this morning but things were still looking good as we headed out Akurey to begin our tour by visiting the puffins. Luckily the puffins were home and we saw quite a few of them flying about and sitting on the surface close to the island. After that quick puffin stop we headed further out and prepared to commence our search for the whales. At first we saw what we thought might have been whales but unfortunately we didn't manage to confirm the sightings. Then after quite a test of our patience a Minke whale surfaced of the left of our bow and finally we had spotted our first whale of the tour. We then proceeded to spot a few more minkes but they surface erratically and were changing direction quickly making things a bit more difficult. Luckily though there were enough of them to give us a good view of them and one even came quite close giving us a nice look at his head, blowholes and back. A good tour after a hard start and as we headed back to Reykjavik we even had a bit of sun, which has been somewhat of a rarity this summer.
-Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the afternoon, the wind had picked up a bit, but the sea was still relatively calm. After visiting Akurey, where we met the cute Atlantic Puffins, it took us quite long until we spotted a cetacean. We went very far out until we eventually spotted splashes in the distance. It turned out to be a group of 4 to 6 White-beaked Dolphins and one of them was jumping high out of the water several times landing on its back with a big splash each time. We tried to find some larger whales on the way back and even though we had no luck with that, we were able to enjoy the beautiful landscape of faxa bay and all the wonderful seabirds that live here.
-Hendrik Schultz
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Today was a bit windy and cloudy but nothing too bad and as we headed out conditions looked good for whale watching. We began by visiting the puffins at Akurey which is always a fun encounter and a good start to any tour. We then headed out to Faxa bay proper to begin our search. At first we had little luck and had to sail for a while before we spotted something of interest. Then we saw a large flock of birds which roused our interest and we headed towards them hoping that the whales would be there too as they eat the same food. We were not disapointed and soon spotted our first whale of the tour a Minke whale! We saw this individual a few times and then a few more around the same area, they were very nice and showed themselves well, even lunge feeding quite close to us. A very good encounter with these cetaceans and after we had seen perhaps 4-5 minkes we headed back to Reykjavik, happy after a successfull tour.
-Ívar Elí Sveinsson
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the morning, the sky was partly overcast, but the sea was nice and calm. On the way out to faxa bay, we stopped at Akurey, one of the puffins islands in front of Reykjavik. Many birds were at home and we were able to have a nice look at the clowns of the sea. When we headed out further, it did not take us very long until we spotted a big flock of feeding seabirds. As we came closer, we found a Minke Whale feeding right within the seabirds and at least two more Minke Whales surfaced within a radius of 150 meters. In total we must have seen between 5 and 8 individuals that were obviously busy feeding close to the surface. It was very nice to see the association of seabirds and Minke Whales in their natural habitat. The composition of birds was quite diverse this morning and besides Manx Shearwaters and Northern Gannets, we were also able to see Northern Fulmars, Arctic Terns and of course Atlantic Puffins. A very nice morning making us feel very optimistic about the rest of the day.
-Hendrik Schultz
Birds seen on today's tours include: Storm Petrels, Manx Shearwaters, Atlantic Puffins, Arctic Terns, Common Guillemots, Eider Ducks, Cormorants, Northern Gannets, Northern Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls