Sunday 10 July, 2016

Tour at 20:30

Report from Elding: With a joyful team of passengers we left the Old harbour and headed out to the sunset but also to a choppy sea with cold winds. A harbour porpoise surfaced two times before it disappeared into the big blue on our way out in the bay. Darcy and I, together with the passengers, tried our best to spot cetaceans on our way out in the bay, but the sea conditions made the search difficult. After almost 1,5 hour search we were almost about to turn around and head back to Reykjavik, but then we spotted a big blow in the distance, maybe 1-2 km away. We moved closer and saw the blow again. Yes, this was definitely a humpback whale! Suddenly it jumped out of the ocean with almost 90% of its body. What a breach! I had to apologize to the passengers for screaming out my enthusiasm in the microphone. We followed this humpback for a long while, saw it surface and bring up its fluke several times in the direction of the sunset. A very photogenic whale! For a short time, a pod (4-6 individuals) of white beaked dolphins joined the whale and the dolphins were swimming just in front of the boat. Could you ask for more? On the way back some of us out on deck saw a minke whale surface 2 times about 400 m from the boat but unfortunately we were already too late back to the harbour and could not stop for this individual. However, I think everyone on board was really happy with the tour and the atmosphere was great in the saloon on the way back. Almost everyone was singing along in cheerful songs played by the musician Bjarne. Thanks to all for a great tour!

- Johanna Bergman

Tour at 17:00 

Report from Eldey: Following the unpredictable weather changes earlier we were happy to see it wasn´t raining, however the wind had picked up since the afternoon. With so few passengers it was easy to get everyone up on top deck in overalls to enjoy the intermittent sunshine! After an hour and 15 minutes of long hard searching and travelling out we saw a big blow yet further in the distance, about 1 km away. We decided to ignore the fact we may be late and headed out in that direction and were rewarded with a beautiful humpback whale! This individual was at first travelling fast but slowed down and made it easier for us to keep up and travel parallel to it. All of a sudden it raised its beautiful fluke to the "awws" and "ahhs" of the passengers! It resurfaced only a few minutes after thankfully, and stayed with us for 20 minutes more, even surfacing 20 m in front of the boat and showing its tubercles and its glorious pectoral fins shining through the water. Everyone headed inside on the journey back as the wind had turned pretty cold but what a lovely end to a long search.

- Ophelie Humphrey

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We got to experience the real nature of Icelandic weather on our trip this afternoon: we started out with a small rain shower as we were leaving the harbour and enjoyed beautiful sunshine for the entire way back at the end. In between we also encountered varying levels of wind speed and wave height - from very calm to almost roller coaster-like. Our passengers, however, were too busy searching for and watching the humpback whale to get seasick - we were happy to have some very good spotters on board! We had to head quite far out to see this individual but the journey was well worth it! We were able to stay with the whale for many surfacings and got some nice looks at it taking a break at the surface and doing shallow and deep dives. Most of the time it didn´t show us its fluke before going down for one of its short dives, but our patience was rewarded with a perfect fluke eventually. And just before we had to turn around to head back the whale surfaced right next to us! It gave quite a few of us a bit of a scare but also put a smile on our faces for the way home...

- Linda

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: It was a overcast day with some spots of sun as we sailed out into the bay. The wind was not too strong and the waves fairly low. Further out into the bay it did start raining a fair bit, but this did not quieten our search effort. After sailing for quite some time a small pod of 2-3 harbour porpoises were spotted at 11 o'clock, we watched them surface a few times before disappearing below the waves. However, a large blow was spotted 800 meters off the port side. On closer inspection it was easy to identify this animal as a humpback whale. When we were only 200 meters away it breached!!! and leaped into the air! It was amazing to see it raise its long pectoral fins right up above its head. When only 100 meters away we stopped and were able to watch the humpback surface multiple times. You could follow it under the waters and see its long body ascend from the depths as it came up to breathe. It then went for a longer dive arching its back high into the air. Suddenly it lifted and swung round its tail almost 180 degrees in a stunning tail lob, crashing back into the water with an almighty splash! As it used up a lot of energy on this move, it slowly surfaced a few times coming up beautifully close just 50 meters away from us. We then watched in awe as it tailed lobbed again followed by an incredible lunge with its mouth open to capture the fleeing prey. We were incredibly lucky to see so many different behaviour combinations on one tour. As time was running out it was time to sail back to harbour, the clouds had parted and the beautiful Icelandic sun was shining through giving us a beautiful ride back.

- Tess Hudson

Tour at 10:00

Report from Eldey: It looked to be a bit of a windy and cloudy morning when we sailed out but when we got into the bay the water was actually quite calm. After sailing a while the sun came out and it even became a little bit warm. After about an hour of sailing we encountered a humpback whale that surfaced quite unexpectedly only 70 meters from the boat. The animal turned out to be quite elusive, moving around a lot and when surfacing showing almost nothing of its back. Unfortunately we only managed to have a good look at the animal three times before we had to start heading back.

-Anouk

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: This was a windy morning and in the beginning of the tour we had to sail into the wind so it felt a bit cold. We had to be patient on this tour, it took us a long time, over an hour until we found our first whale. The first sign we saw of that whale was when a humpback whale breached about a kilometer away from us! It formed a huge splash so it was difficult to miss it. When we got closer it slowed down and started travelling. We followed this humpback for about 20 minutes and got a good look at it. Especially in the end when the whale surfaced 60 meters from our boat! We could see its whole body when it stayed right under the surface! On the way back we got a glimpse of 2 other humpback whales but unfortunately didn't have time to got closer as we were already getting late back to land. 

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on today tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, arctic tern, manx shearwater, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake, black-headed gull, atlantic puffin, common guillemot (and chick!), arctic skua, iceland gull and eider duck.  

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik.There will be some strong winds from the north, so there will be movement on the boat out in the Faxabay. There might be a little rain in the evening, but its looking like a lovely day. We hope that you will be able to join us to see these amazing giants in their natural habitat.