Tour at 17:00
Report from Elding: Such a nice tour to end the day - for the beginning of our tour we still had absolutely calm seas and dry skies with little wind. Spotting conditions couldn't be better. We saw first one minke whale but it surfaced very quickly, obviously traveling. Instead of waiting for it, we headed out further to where we had had a lot of activity the previous tours. We did spot 2 minke whales that were resting/milling in the area, probably after a big feed. They surfaced very calmly and close to us, making it excellent for photos. Although we could have stayed longer, we left the minke whales as I had spotted another species far in the distance. Spotting was getting harder with winds picking up, rain starting and whitecaps forming. Nontheless we found what was spotted and had an amazing encounter with a pod of at least 10 white-beaked dolphins. It was very special as they came very, very close up to the boat and stayed with us for over half an hour. With them was a tiny calf, still a neonate as we could see it's featal folds. That is why we left them after half an hour as we didn't want to disturb them in any way with such a tiny dolphin amongst the pod. On our way back we saw another minke whale amongst feeding northern gannets which we had been seeing numerous times throughout the tour as well. A lot of wildlife and some amazing encounters!
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: An excellent tour with mirror calm seas, colourful clouds and plentiful wildlife. The spotting conditions were awesome and minke whales could be spotted km's in the distance in every direction you looked, albeit we had to sail out about 50 minutes to get to the area there were. We didn't know what direction to look, plunging gannet one way, 2-3 minke whales surfacing in another and we even had a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins but they were really in a whale watching mood so they soon left the area. The harbour porpoises were great, 3 pods of 3-5 in each, one pod in particular came up close to the boat and many times, a species hard to photograph but got many pictures of these guys. In the whole tour we must have seen at least 10-15 minke whales, once 3 surfaced at the same time. They were not together but obviously feeding on the same shoal of fish. We even recognized one of our regular's 'Humpie' seen ever year since 2011 but unfortunately didn't manage to get a photograph :(, still got pictures of most the others. Just a wonderful afternoon out on the sea.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: What a wonderful day to go out at sea and see some whales! We had a wonderful weather, no wind, no waves, and clouds covering the sky and increasing the contrast of the animals with the surface of the water. It was only after 30 minutes that we spotted the first minke whale of many to come! The animal surfaced for a few times fairly close to the boat and then disappeared, but it really didn't matter because there were a lot of them out in the bay today! Overall we saw up close more than 4-5, but if we counted all the ones that were surfacing in the distance the number could easily increase until 15 or even 20. They were just everywhere! And we even got to see a pod of around 10 harbour porpoises on our way back home. The whales we saw today were clearly feeding, increasing their fat layer before they will start their migration towards warmer waters. But today they're here, so come and join us on the next tours!
- Alberto Alejandro
Birds seen today: Common Guillemot, Northern Fulmar, Northern Gannet, black headed gull, manx shearwater, and Kittiwake.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a wonderful sunny day. Hope you are able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment!
