09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:30: RUNNING
Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: Finally, SUNSHINE!!!!! An incredible tour to be on. It was chilly out on the bay but everyone loved the red overalls that can be borrowed free of charge on our vessels and the bar where hot drinks can be purchased. We first sailed against the wind and watched all he birds fly past heading to the rich feeding grouds further ashore. After 40 mins of sailing, flocks of seabirds were everywhere, we were surprised that not so many whales were round them, so we continued to find a very active pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins that later joined another pod of 3 and ended up watching all 7 surfacing together under the midnight sun. They were a little difficult but everyone saw them and hopefully got some nice pictures, We then travelled south and found a HUGE flock of birds, at least 200 or more I would say, there must be whales here and there were, 2 feeding minke whales, a small pod of 2 harbour porpoises and eventually a humpback whale that we could be identified as one of our celebrity all year round humbacks, called ´Cross Stitch´. Seen first here in July and October 2016 and then February and July 2017 in Eyjafjörður, Akureyri ( in the north). We sailed home with some fun music as the sun fell over the horizon. Beautiful evening out on the bay of Faxaflói.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: We left Reykjavik under a perfect summer day with flat seas, soft winds and a sunshine! The tour was marked with suspense as cetaceans were playing hard to get until finally we found a group of cheerful 4 or 5 white-beaked dolphins! They were quite playful jumping around and socializing and it was possible to observe them for a long while. Through out the trip we were also able to sight a lot of marine birds such as puffins, Northern fulmars, Artic terns and Artic skuas. A great way to finish the day!
- Ines Cunha
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsulan: While the tour started with a little bit of rain, quickly the sky cleared and gradually, the blue above us grew bigger, to end up in a resplendent sunshine! We might have had our first actual summer day today! This our encounter with minkes whales even more so special. We saw at least 3 individuals, and one of them was so tiny we assumed it was a juvenile, maybe even a recently weaned calf. One of the others turned out to be Humpie, a friend we know back from 2011. We also had a quick glimpse of 5-6 crazy harbour porpoises that didn't lingered around for very long. Whales in the sun made for a nice afternoon!
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: It looked like just another cloudy, rainy day in the bay... but it wasn't. It took us an hour to start spotting minke whales and once we started, boy did we spot those minke whales. They were in every direction in a vast area and it was impossible not to see them. We saw small whales and those bigger ones. It was exceptional to see so many distributed around and to top it off we had the second half of the tour with the sun shining, so it was very warm and sunglasses were a good idea for this tour. As a bonus we saw a couple of cute harbour porpoises swimming calmly in the sun glare Quite a nice package this trip was.
-Lucas Heinrich
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out on this cloudy rainy morning and had to go for quite some time to find the fist signs of cetaceans, some flocks of feeding seabirds. Some already thought we would not see anything on this tour but sometimes it just takes a bit longer. And we did not search in vain as we started seeing one minke whale after the other, possibly 8-10 individuals! And suddenly a blow of a humpback whale inbetween. We did not know anymore were to look first. This was just great as one minke whale started to be very curious between our and another whale watching boat, even did a spy-hop! What a great morning out at sea!
- Sarah Kompatscher
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: The journey went through a dry weather and kind winds, so it was quite enjoyable to stay outside. The adventure started with a sighting of a minke whale. The animal was traveling around and seemed relaxed. It was smaller than most of the minke whales we see around the area so it must have been a juvenile. Later on we enjoyed the presence of 5 white-beaked dolphins. Finally, we finished the tour in a high note after sighting another minke whale. Another awesome morning with Elding!
- Ines Cunha
Bird species encountered on today's tours: Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, eider duck, common guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill, black-legged kittiwake, lesser black-backed gull, Arctic skua, Arctic tern
We are sailing out today from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik. We will have some rain but we have inside and outside area on all of our boats and also provide warm overalls for you on the boats. Hope you will be able to join us today on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
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