SATURDAY, 20 MAY 2017

Tour at 17:00 Report from Hafsulan: Really nice conditions throughout the tour with a clear and sunny sky from beginning to the end. It took a little time before we spotted the first cetaceans. After about an hour we spotted around 5 or 6 harbour porpoises moving quite swiftly past our boat. Many surfaces made it easy to spot this otherwise so elusive creature. An hour and a half into the trip we spotted a minke whale surfacing a couple of times with hardly a minute in between. At some point the minke decided to disappear and remained hidden for the rest of the tour. After about two hours, we spotted two minke whales close to one another. The one was definitely smaller than the other and we assumed it was a mother and her claf. They surfaced about three times before they disappeared from our sights. In our attempt to get another look at a minke in that area we spotted some more harbour porpoises (around 3), however they also didn´t stick around for too long and remained our last sighting of a cetacean for the rest of the tour. 

- Friedrich Rittner

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsulan: What a nice afternoon! Sun shinning and a little breeze were our companions during our trip. We contemplated totally fascinated the views from Faxafloi, the biggest bay in Iceland. The sky was so clear that we could descried in all its magnificent Snæfellsjökull, an impressive volcano totally covered by snow. It didn't take too long after our initial astonishment of the landscape when some of our passengers spotted a minke whale! Contrary to its elusive and common behavior, we could stayed a while with this animal and observe its breathing sequence. After this encounter, our mood was extremely optimistic. Good weather and one big cetacean in the pocket, but we wanted more and we had it! Sooner, a small pod of white-beaked dolphins appeared. This pod wasn't afraid of us and they gave us a good time while swimming under our ship and around. The waters were so clear that we could easily saw how they were moving around, playing and diving. With all these good feelings, we returned to the harbour, not before enjoying many of the seabirds flocks that are installed in the bay and a clear view of Reykjavik and its surroundings.  What else can you ask for?

-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsulan: Once again today we are living the dream! Our departure happened on a mirror-like sea, with only ripples from weak bursts of winds or seabirds swims to disturb it. At first the sky was overcast but slowly all along the tour the sun unveiled. All conditions were set, the spotting today was a piece of cake! It began first with a pod of 8-10 white-beaked dolphins that we spotted from miles away. As we approached carefully we could see them feeding in one spot, and as soon they noticed us they turned around and came to see us. These playful dolphins were alternating between swimming softly alongside our boat to have a look at us and swimming under the boat and surfacing left and right. We eventually left this nice pod because we noticed a minke whale swimming in the distance, and after meeting it it required a bit of patience to get our sightings since this individual was taking regular long dives. While we followed we spotted a pod of a dozen of harbour porpoises that seemed to stay in the same spot, so we decided to give it a try and were treated with close encounters with surprisingly confident porpoises that stayed with us for a couple of minutes. When they disappeared we began to move again and wounded up in a crazy area with a lot of activity! Not only in this spot we spotted a total of 4 more minke whales, with one surfacing frequently enough to get easy pictures, but also at least 20 more porpoises! And all of that was combined with a flock of hundreds of northern gannets diving like crazy birds to get some fish. The show was so spectacular and happening so close to us that for a solid 5 minutes they stole the show from the whales! After that the way back was warm and quiet, under a bright sun, making us regret the absence of laying chair on the boat. What a wonderful morning it was!

- Guillaume Calcagni 

Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannets, atlantic puffin, eider duck, northern fulmar, common guillemot, arctic tern, lesser black-backed gull, razorbill & arctic skua 

Tour Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. The sea conditions are in our favour today but if you are sensitive to seasickness we do offer tablet, free of charge! Hope you will be able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.