Sunday, 3 July 2015

Status: RUNNING

We are sailing out from the Old Harbor in Reykjavík today. The sun is shining and the swells have gone down from yesterday. So make sure you are booked on for whale watching today

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: The wind had calmed down a little bit as we sailed into the evening sun to search for some more whales. We headed straight for the area where we had seen the minke whales on the previous tour. All the bird life we had seen in the afternoon seemed to have disappeared and no whale was to be seen. But as we slowed down and slowly searched the area we suddenly spotted a minke whale right next to the boat! It seemed to be a very friendly individual as it kept surfacing not too far away from us and also kept a more or less constant course. We spent a good amount of time with the whale and got some very nice looks at this animal before we headed back enjoying the scenery in the evening light. 

- Linda

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: A sun started to shine with even more strength. The wind was calming down and no whitecaps were on the bay on this tour, which made the spotting really easy in this tour. Although the sea was still a little bumpy, some brave passengers dare to stand in the upper deck of the boat, in the front part just right close to the guide's post. And that made the experience really amazing, since we had among our passengers a group of amazing whale spotters! Just about 40 minutes after our departure, one of them, Kim, pointed towards 11 o' clock. We kept looking towards that direction and... yes! There it was! The first minke whale of the tour appeared in front of us, no more far than 50 m away from our position. The animal seemed to be feeding, since it's movement looked kind of unpredictable, but it gave us a wonderful time, and some really good sightings. At some point, the whale went for a deep dive (as we managed to see it's back arching more than usual) but then, one minute after it appeared again really far away from us, and thus we started to think that maybe not only 1 but 2 minke whales were in the area. We left the zone, trying to leave in peace the animals for a little while and look for something else. Then, again just in front of us, another minke whale appeared, completely crossing our path. And this time, the passengers were also able to smell the famous "peculiar" breath of this species of whales. In conclusion, we spent a wonderful time in this tour with this amazing minkys!.

- Alberto Alejandro

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: There was still quite a bit of wind as we sailed out into the bay this afternoon. After we had left the humpback whale quite close to the Reykjanes peninsula in the morning, we decided to take a look in the same area again. For that reason we sailed very close to the lighthouse called Grótta and got some nice looks at the city from a completely different perspective. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to find the humpback whale again though. We headed further North again and saw a total of 4 minke whales over the next hour or so. Most of them were quite difficult to follow - moving quickly, surfacing only briefly and changing direction quite a lot. But then the last individual gave us some very nice looks at its silvery grey back and pointy snout right before we had to head back to the city.

- Linda

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was a sunny but blustery first tour of the day on this boat. It was a little choppy as we headed out and throughout most of the trip. We heard that a humpback whale had been sighted by the other boats. Unfortunately, we were unable to see it so we continued heading further out in search of some other cetaceans. We saw some small flocks of birds, mainly arctic terns, circling around and they appeared to be feeding as some were diving into the surface of the water. We watched keenly in case a whale or dolphins or porpoises were feeding with them. Then 3 harbour porpoises appeared close to the boat. It was a brief sighting so only a few passengers were able to see them due to them not being very active at the surface and as there was quite a swell and lots of whitecaps. Shortly after a minke whale appeared but it was elusive, surfacing every few minutes and changing direction. We waited patiently and we were rewarded with much closer sightings of another minke whale which surfaced a number of times just ahead of the boat. It was not the best tour for sightings but it was still an enjoyable trip on a sunny day out on the water surrounded by a stunning landscape.

- Julia Benson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: We headed out into a beautifully clear and sunny morning with amazing views of the glacier-covered volcano Snæfellsjökull all the way from Reykjavík. There was quite a bit of wind, so the sail was a bit bumpy at times. Luckily, it didn't take our first mate very long to spot a blow in the distance. While we were heading towards it we suddenly saw the back half of a whale and a dark fluke come out of the water and create a huge splash on the surface. We had not only managed to find a humpback whale, but it was also tailbreaching! We saw this whale tailbreaching two more times and watched it for quite a while. We even managed to see the body and the white flippers through the water surface. After everyone had gotten a good luck we decided to head further out into the bay to have a look around. Unfortunately we didn't manage to find any more cetaceans, but finding that humpback whale had already made the trip!

- Linda

Bird species seen: arctic tern, northern fulmar, kittiwake, lesser black-backed gull, arctic skua, atlantic puffin, eider duck, black-headed gull, northern gannet