SATURDAY, 22 JUNE 2019

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 9:00

Report from Eldey: Another sunny day in Reykjavik! After the longest day of the year, the 21st of June, we had a nice first day of summer in Iceland. Apart from the sun, Iceland wouldn't be in the list of the top five windiest places in the world without the strong breeze refreshing our faces at sea. The sea was quite flat and everybody was outside just enjoying the trip. After less than an hour sailing, a small blow together with a huge flock of birds feeding appeared to our sight. We didn't have to wait a long time until a minke whale decided tu surface on the starboard of the boat, really close to us. It went for a deeper dive and, in the meanwhile, a really curious harbour porpoise decided to show up a couple of times for our entertainmente while waiting for the minke. Finally the minke came to the surface to breath one more time and did it a couple of times until it just dissapeared, probably breathing somwhere else, out of our vision. We were keeping our attention all around the boat, when another minke whale decided to surface, on the port side this time. Another one was waving us further away, which makes a total of 3 minke whales around us at the same time. After this nice sighting, It was time to go slowly back to the harbour, when a playful little white-beaked dolphin started to jump out of the water, making us feeling really cheerful. A total of 4 white-beaked dolphins were feeding in front of us and sailing with us for a while towards Reykjavik. Everybody had a big smile while waving us goodbye at the dock.

-Elena Gutiérrez Ruiz

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The weather during our tour was just beautiful, even though we still had to face some cold winds. Our first encounter was a pod of 2-3 white beaked dolphins, which were diving beneath the bow of the boat and giving us a great show. They disappeared rather quickly and we kept going, getting closer to a flock of feeding seabirds, which is always a sign of plenty of food around. We did not find any cetaceans in this flock, but when we went to check out another flock of birds, a minke whale came up, feeding together with the birds. We saw this individual a few times, before it vanished. On the way back to Reykjavìk we came across 2 more minke whales, again in between a flock of seabirds. A lovely way to finish this tour.

- Diana Besel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Cloudless sky, omen of good fortune. We sailed out of the harbour with an open mind for adventure. We looked and looked and started to get anxious about the outcome of the tour, but then, it all changed so quickly. We spotted 3 species at the same time. Minke whale in the distance at 9 o'clock, a pod of white-beaked dolphins at 11 o'clock abd a humpback whale at 12 o'clock. The minke whale was moving away from us so we concentrated on the animals in the front of the boat. Soon the 6-ish dolphins joined with the humpback whale and then a more then half an hour long interaction followed, with both species feeding on the surface, changing direction fast and the humpback whale rolling around and turning on its side just under the surface. It was a remarkable sight, quite seldom seen in the bay. At times the animals were so close we had to be perfectly still with the boat to not endanger them. Spectacular!

- Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 14:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We had a bit of cool wind from the northwest, but it was very sunny and the visibility was great! Our other boat that went out at 9:00 let us know they had some animals in the area, so we sailed there in a straight line. We were delighted to see that there was a humpback whale over there! It was very relaxed at first, just coming up to the surface slowly and very close to us. We lost sight of it for a few minutes only to see it suddenly breaching in front of us! It kept this amazing show going as it was tail lobbing, pectoral slapping and then it breached multiple times in a row! We then encountered 2 minke whales before heading back to the harbour with big smiles on our faces, what an incredible tour!

-Kristín Viðja Harðardóttir

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 17:00

Report from Eldey: Once again the sun didn't disappoint and we had some good weather too look forward to on the open sea. We sailed quite far out and were sweeping the area for wildlife. It was tiresome at time but we managed to take some nice looks at 3 minke whales that were in the area. We finished the tour with around 7 white-beaked dolphins going all crazy all around the boat. We felt like children, looking down from one side of the boat to the other while the toothed whales were speeding under us and also playing in the waves of the boat - so called bow riding. Another happy tour in Faxaflói Bay.

-Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 20:30

Report from Eldey: We had to deal with the swell that persisted through the day, but that did not hold back our passengers from enjoying our midnight sun tour. Bright skies and charismatic scenery kept our passenger’s attention while we were searching for cetaceans out there.  It did not take long until the first sighting. We spotted a blow in the distance and rushed towards it. Later on we realised we were in the presence of 2 minke whales. These lovely giants played a bit hard to get, as tracking them turned out to be challenging at times. But our persistent paid off and everybody was able to enjoy the presence of these creature, at some point in a very close range. On the way back everybody was dazzled with our Icelandic jaw-dropping sunset.

- Inês Cunha

Birds seen today: common guillemot, black guillemot, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, manx shearwater, black-headed gull, arctic skua, black-legged kitiwake, artic tern.

We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today at 9:00. The weather today is beautiful, but if you are prone to getting sea sick, we do have sea sickness tablets available free of charge at the office and on board. The sun is shining, but make sure to dress warmly and make use of our warm overalls as it is always colder on sea than on land. For more information contact us by email elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000.