Tour at 20:30:
Report from Elding: What a change to the weather, and what a beautiful night sky over Reykjavík. Although we still had westerly winds, they had certainly calmed down and only made our boat rock whenever we had to turn sideways to the waves. Eventhough we tried to avoid it, when we encountered a very playful group of 6 white-beaked dolphins, we had to and did so gladly as they were just a joy. Playing around with us for over half an hour, swimming all around and under our boat, leaping and splashing. There was even a young juvenile in the group! They had been difficult to spot at first, but our patience with them clearly paid off. But it was tested even more with a whale whose blow we had seen over 10 times, but still never it's body. After what felt more than half an hour, the whale surfaced very close to the boat. At first we had assumed it was a humpback whale, given the size of it's blow. However, after that one surface we are fairly certain that it was a very, very rare Sei whale. This is a species that was first seen in Iceland in 2012 and the 3rd largest species of whale on earth!! Nature is amazing!!!!´
- Sabrina Voswinkel
14:00 (2PM) and 17:00 (5PM): CANCELLED
Due to unfavourable conditions at sea we unfortunately have to cancel our Whale Watching Tours at 14:00 and 17:00 this afternoon. If you like to reschedule or have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our ticket office at +354 519 5000 or via e-mail at elding@elding.is.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsulan: Sailing out of the old harbour of Reykjavik, we felt a strong wind and the warmth of the sun on our faces. When we left the shelter of the harbor the swell started to be bigger and after about 15 minutes of sailing we got unexpected big waves right from the front. Although some of our passengers really enjoyed the movement of the boat and the water drops of the waves in their faces, other passengers could not enjoy this adventurous ride. As some people felt very bad and we could not guarantee an enjoyable and safe trip for all of them anymore, the captain made the call to turn back to the harbor. As this was a decision made for the well-being of our passengers, we are confident that everyone understood this decision and of course we hope that we can welcome them again on one of our tours at a calmer day here in Faxafloi. Thus, we left the decision up to the passengers to get a refund or a complementary ticket.
- Nicole Koestner
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: Winds were picking up so we did have waves throughout our tour, but it was dry and considerably warm too. This was a good start for us, as it made spotting condiotions quite good. As we headed out into the bay, we could see large flocks of birds and a blow in the distance. As we got closer, this blow turned out to be one of a humpback whale. It really put on an awesome show as it was feeding. Tail slapping, lunge feeding and numerous peduncle throws within 200 meters of the boat. Just so much fun to watch. As we kept moving through the area after over half an hour with this humpback, very slowly, we saw that it kept heading in the same direction of the boat! In addition, we got a very quick, but great look at a harbour porpoise that swam in front and then past the boat in less than 20m distance. A little later we also saw a minke whale that surfaced 6 times, moving from the left to the right side of the boat with each surface. On our way back we could still enjoy nature all around us with so many seabirds around and the sun shining in our faces.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 9.00:
Report from Hafsulan: The weather was really nice, the sun was shining and there were no waves. Perfect conditions to go whale watching. When we left the harbour we headed for a big flock of birds, this is always a good sign for us because it means there is fish around. Than we saw a big blow underneath the birds, and we found a humpback whale feeding in this area. It was really nice to see him having breakfast. Then out of nowhere he breached! The whole animal came out of the water what an amazing thing to see! Also we got to see the fluke a view times, so nice. When he was done eating he breached one last time. We whet to look for other cetaceans in the bay, and found a minke whale but he was more difficult to follow around. On the way back we saw the same humpback a bit in de distance breaching again! What a awesome tour this was!
- Alexandra Bouman
Birds seen today: common guillemot, eider ducks, atlantic puffins, northern gannets, phalaropes, arctic terns, arctic skuas, kittiwakes, northern fulmars, european storm pertrel, black-backed gulls and manx shearwaters.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. If you are sensitive to sea sickness, we do provide sea sickness tablets, free of charge! We hope you are able to join us on the search of these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
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