SUNDAY, 29 MAY 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: This tour was best by far from all the tours today. The weather was a little groggy, fine rain and overcast skies but this did not deter anyone in the slightest for staying mostly outside and a lot decided to not wear our free floatation suits on board which keep you toasty warm. The sea was the calmest it had all day so you could see all the life miles away. So much happened that it’s hard to remember what come first. About 30 minutes of leaving the harbour we could see the exhaled breath of a humpback whale about 3 km offshore and on the way to the humpback we came across two pods of white-beaked dolphins. At least 3 in one pod and maybe 5-7 in the other, they were busy chasing after and feeding on the abundance of fish around and always followed by a flock of chatty arctic terns. We left the dolphins and followed the humpback whale, a friend we know well called ‘ Picasso’ an individual seen frequenly in the bay since the beginning of February and first sighted in May 2014. Picasso went on long dives but whilst we waited we enjoyed the surfacing of harbour porpoises and minke whales. At lease 20-30 porpoises were encountered, popping up here and there throughout the tour and and at least 2 minke whales, 1-2 really far in the distance and also another humpback whale that always headed towards us when surfacing, like it was saying hello but we unfortunately had to say goodbye and the tour was coming to an end. The birdlife was also incredible on this tour, arctic skuas, gannets, arctic terns, and puffins the most fun to watch. The ride home was also incredible with more dolphins (7 animals) porpoises (5-10 porpoises) and another 1-2 minke whales. A plethora of life and activity on this evening tour. 

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: We got lucky weather-wise on this tour. The cloud cover was still overcast but the wind had weakened, there was almost no waves and no whitecaps to get in the way of our spotting. About 25-30 minutes after leaving the harbour, we spotted our first blow far away in the background. The animal was about 3 km away from our boat so it took a while before we reached it, but it was worth the wait. We ended up in an area where 3 humpback whales were feeding. It was a little bit tricky to follow them as they were taking long deep dives, and only surfacing a couple of times before going back. Our fish finder revealed that there was a lot of fish close to the seabed, which probably explain this behavior. We recognized one of those 3 humpbacks as our beloved Picasso, one individual we first sighted in 2014 and that got back in Faxa Bay this year at the beginning of February. The patience of the passengers was rewarded by plenty of nice looks at the flukes of those humpback, as they were deep diving. During our sighting, we also got few look at 2 minke whales, and a pod of 4-6 harbour porpoises before we had to go back home. A lot of incredible wildlife out there, including the many seabirds we saw !

- Guillaume Calcagni

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: This morning we sailed out under a cloudy sky eager to see some cetaceans. There was a little wind but luckily it was not raining, there was only little movement and the visibility out on the ocean was quite good. Soon we were surprised by 3-5 harbour porpoises. Suddenly they had appeared very close to the boat and offered us some nice views of them. We then continued towards the direction where we had seen incredible feeding behaviors of a humpback whale the day before and were not disappointed. After travelling out a bit further, we spotted a blow and when we arrive we saw the same humpback whale lunge feeding. What an unforgettable experience! The humpback came really close to the boat and showed us not only its gorgeous fluke and flippers, but also its baleen plates while opening its jaw to feed. Everyone could observe really well, how much water these animals can gulp and amazing pictures for everyone were almost guaranteed. We stayed with the animal for as long as possible to observe these unbelievable behaviors. Then it was time for us to head back to the old harbour of Reykjavik, happy and still stunned by such an amazing trip.

- Barbara Neubarth

Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannet, atlantic puffin, kittiwake, manx shearwater, northern fulmar, arctic tern, common guillemot, black-backed gull, arctic skua, razorbill, eider duck