SUNDAY, 28 MAY 2017

Tour 17:00

Report from Elding: The sun had disappeared behind a thick cloud converge again and the wind direction changed, now it was blowing from the south and sea conditions fairly good. On our way out we spotted two pods of harbor porpoises, maybe 7 individuals in total. One pod traveled past our boat on high speed, surfacing high out of the water, forming small splashes which helped us spotting them. Soon after, we came across the next pod of harbor porpoises, but these animals surfaced slowly towards our boat. A pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins turned up ahead of us, this was most likely this was the best sighting of the tour. The water was so clear that their whole bodies were easily visible to us while they swam all around our boat. This sighting did not last for long because two minke whale were spotted 500 meters further out! We wanted to leave the dolphins in hope to get a good look at the larger animals. They surfaced a few times within 100 meters distance but suddenly disappeared. The bird-life on the bay had changed a lot since the morning tour as there were almost no large flocks seen on the bay.

-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: We set sail with an overcast sky and a small bit of swell. Within half an hour the sky cleared up and the sun came out just in time for us to see the splashes of some white-beaked dolphins near a flock of feeding seabirds. While waiting for the dolphins to reappear, a minke whale turned up right in front of the boat! It seemed to be feeding based on all of the nearby seabird activity and the short dives it was taking. After the minke whale's final surface we also had three harbor porpoises join us for a short time before we once again saw the splashes of five white-beaked dolphins as they breached out of the water. This time we were able to get a lot closer and they swam alongside us until it was time to return to port. Just as we were ready to go inside however, three more white-beaked dolphins turned up within twenty metres of the boat, allowing everyone one last chance for pictures. What an action-packed tour!

- Rachel Pool

Tour 09:00

Report from Eldey: The ocean was calm, but there was a strong wind and it rained on us a few times during the tour. But overall the condition to spot cetaceans where great. Unfortunately there where not many around. It took us a bit of time, but than we did get to see about 6-7 White-beaked dolphins. They didn't stay around for long so we continued our search. Even though there where a lot of birds feeding around the whales where no where to be found. We did get to see the white-beaked dolphins again. This time we got a better look a them. Overall it was a nice tour, we got a lot of fresh air and a real icelandic summer experience. 

-Alexandra Bouman

Bird species seen on today's tours include: Northern Gannet, Northern Fulmar, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Kittiwake, Arctic tern, Atlantic puffin, Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Eider duck, Black-headed gull, Arctic skua, Great skua, Manx shearwaters, Greylag goose.

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. There is little wind and hopefully the sun will shine on us later today. Hope you will be able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.