Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: The weather definitely calmed down for our midnight tour and we started our trip with a little bit of sunset in between the clouds. We were sailing peacefully enjoying our marvelous Faxafloi, which is always full of mysteries and good scenery. From the distance, we spotted thousand of birds gathering together in the same area so we decided to head our boat in that direction and it was proven to be a good idea. As soon as we got closer, we saw 2 minke whales going around the flock of birds, all of them chasing the same: food. After couple of good encounters with this fast animal, we decided to try our chances in a different places and we found a pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins, they were traveling fast and changing direction constantly so we decided not to spend more than 10 minutes with them as they seemed to be elusive. In our way back, we enjoyed live music from Sonni and Vera, great Icelanders singers!
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The weather had calmed down a lot on this tour. the sun came out and even though there was some swell the tour was beautiful. We went searching for the fin whale from the previous tour and even though they have a blow that can reach 6-7 meters high it was no where to be seen. We then sailed to the productive areas of the earlier tours and found a minke whale. A great minke whale that surfaced many times for all the passengers to see. It vanished after a while and so we continued. A pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins were the next to be found and they were great. Surfacing slowly and occasionally close to the boat. We were able to watch these for a while. After a while we lost them but found them again after a 10 minute search. We tried looking for other cetaceans but it seems they had moved out of the bay. It was a lovely tour nonetheless.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: What an i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e tour we have had today! It wasn´t because of the weather conditions as long as we had the whole day strong wind coming from the south-east or because we have witnessed incredible behaviors from our beloved cetaceans. Not even close! We were just leaving the harbour and we spotted a big blow meaning a big whale just there, 10 minutes after leaving the port. But what has made this encounter so unique was because it was a fin whale! An endangered species and a rare visitor in Faxafloi, so we couldn't´t be more happy and enthusiastic with this sighting, we spent more than 30 minutes following this animal as it was just traveling softly in a quiet a relax way. After enjoying the fin whale, we sailed out trying to see more species around even though we were enormously compensate for the whole tour. Anyway, we saw few flocks of seabirds and as soon as we got closer we saw a minke whale speeding up and chasing fish and a white-beaked dolphin jumping out of the water, unbelievable! Few minutes later we were able to see another minke whale feeding and following a school of fish, visible from the surface. In the way back home, we were even more lucky because some of our passenger detected 2-3 harbour porpoises passing by next to the boat. So, definitely, you cannot ask for anything else in a whale watching tour.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Sea become easier and wind slowed down so conditions for enjoying sailing were much nicer then in the morning. Without hesitation we decided to go directly to the area where we saw many animals before. On the way one or two harbour porpoises surprised us appearing suddenly. We couldn't stay with them because we were in need to see something bigger! Very soon our wishes came true when we found pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins. It seemed that they were in rush, maybe with feeding, maybe doing other dolphins business so after few close encounters we went further. For around hour we were searching between flock of feeding birds but without success. It was plenty of life around but no whales. When sun and blue sky came up upon Reykjavik we headed in that direction where close to the city few other boats were following one mysterious animal. From far we could see few meter tall blow. When we get there, just next to our boat surfaced huge fin whale! This second largest animal on the world was traveling next to our side so we could experience how big it is! We came back a little bit late but it was worthy every minute.
- Ewa Malinowska
Tour at 10:00
Report from Eldey: It was still pretty windy today but not as much as yesterday and the see was a little bit calmer. After an hour we reached an area where other boats had seen a humpback whale. We waited a few minutes and then also saw this animal going for a dive. But when it resurfaced, we saw it twice coming towards us not even 100 m away. It swam underneath us and popped up again right behind the boat, maybe 5 m away. After this very close encounter, it stayed underwater for a long time and we didn't get a very good look at it anymore. We moved on and headed to a flock of feeding birds, checking for some cetaceans close by. Since we didn't see any whales or dolphins, we had just decided to continue our search and turned the boat around, when a minke whale surfaced 300 m away in front of us. We saw it another time before going for a dive and then saw it a few more times when it came up about 100-150 m away. Due to some waves, it was not very easy to see and we headed further out in the bay. After a while, we saw another minke whale and slowed down to wait for the animal to come up again, but then we noticed a second individual that popped up less than 100 m away from us and surfaced a few times almost in the same spot going in circles. It was super cool to get such a nice look at a minke whale just swimming next two us very slowly. After this experience, we headed back to the harbour with the wind in our faces.
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 09:00
Report from Elding: It was another blustery day with southeasterly winds but not that much swell. The temperature was not that bad but for those that were more sensitive to the cold used the warm overalls. It was a nice sailing offshore, travelling with the wind and waves, it didn´t take us long, maybe 40 minutes to reach a good area where bird life was plentiful. Suddenly a blow in the distance then a quick surfacing of a minke whale closer. Within minutes we had at least 3-4 minke whales on each side less than 100 metres, one of the minke whales was identified at ´AURA´ a minke encountered every year since 2007. Then a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins jumped in then splashes from harbour porpoises, hard to tell how many but at least 4-5. All the time hundreds of seabirds gathering to pick of the small fish that had clustered together to make a bait ball. We decided to leave, captain saying on the radio ´now lets go find a humpabck whale´. 10 minutes later a humpback was spotted, a little grumpie but the passengers all got a great look. But no fluke picture from this individual, he was not in the mood. A great morning with so much productivity.
List of birds seen on today's tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, Atlantic puffin, arctic tern, arctic skua, manx shearwater and eider duck.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. The weather is still a windy, so the sea will be quite rough. 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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