Tour at 1700
After a very successful day our last tour was a little bit difficult. At the beginning of our tour we saw a group of harbour porpoises. It was very nice since they were close to the boat and all passengers could see them very good. We continued our tour and also found a minke whale. We saw him only twice and then it was not possible to find him again. We found two other minke whales but it was the same behaviour. We saw them one or two times but then they went down for a long dive and we could not find them again. Since we were not sure if all passengers could see the minke whales we decided to offer complimentary tickets.
Tour at 1400
Report from Elding II: We headed out into Faxaflói Bay on this beautiful clear sunny day. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the main whale watching area and again the whales didn´t disappoint. We must of encountered at least 5-7 Minke Whales maybe a couple more. A couple surfaced just meters from the boat startling us with their loud short exhaled breath. There were many Harbour Porpoises (3-6 pods of 2-3 individuals) too, swimming and porpoising (behaviour - to swim fast like a porpoise) past and around the boat. Flocks of Arctic Terns also entained the passengers with their loud 'kria´ calls. Wonderful time out on the bay and it only got better as we finished the tour at Akurey to see the Puffins.
Tour at 1300
Report from Hafsulan: At the beginning of our tour we saw three minke whales. We saw them two or three times but then they went for a deep dive and we could not spot them again. It was a little bit more difficult to spot the whales on this tour since the sea was not so calm anymore. We continued our journey in order to find some other whales. This was a very good decision since after a while we saw one minke whale just in front of our boat. We stopped the boat and then it was simply amazing. There were two minke whales around the boat and one of them appeared several times just a few meters from the boat. We also saw a lot of arctic terns around and it was nice to see how they were catching fish. On the way back we stopped at our puffin island Akurey and saw many puffins both on the sea and as well on land.
Tour at 1000
Report from Hafsúlan: we had heard from our friends on Elding (who had departed one hour before us) that there had been quite some luck with Minke Whales not far out in the bay and it was too tempting to risk missing so we decided to visit Puffin Island on the way back rather than on the way out. The sea was mirror even and excellent for spotting blows and splashes. We began seeing Minke Whales (4-5) rather early on and we noticed that they were relaxed, surfacing frequently and showing their backs and dorsal fins well, clearly having plenty of food and enjoying it. The most exciting moment was when one came well out of the water, 10-15 meters in front of the boat, not only showing its front part clearly but also the middle part. Throughout the tour we also saw small pods (3-5) of Harbour Porpoises, including just next to Engey Island, just showing what shallow waters they sometimes enter. And while Puffin Island was not overly full with Puffins and we could not get close because of the tide, there were so many of them out at sea today that the Puffin lovers among the passengers cannot have been disappointed.
Tour at 0900
Report from Elding: It was again a wonderful sunny day as we started our morning tour. First we visited the puffin island and then we went further out to look for whales. It took not long until we spotted the first minke whale. We went closer and thanks to the great weather conditions it was very easy to see the whale coming up to the surface. We were very lucky on this tour since there was not only one whale but a group of whales. We spotted between 5 and 8 minke whales and it was absolutely great to see them all around the boat. In this area we could also see several times a group of harbour porpoises. We saw several times a group of 2 - 3 individuals which came close to the boat. Almost at the end of the tour there was another nice surprise - one of the minke whales came up only a few meters from the boat. It was so great to see so closely such a wonderful animal. The whale did not feel disturbed by us and came up 3 or 4 times again very close to the boat. It was a perfect start of the day.
Birds seen on todays tours include; Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Seagulls, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Arctic Terns, Arctic Skua´s, Eider Ducks, Cormorants, Oystercatchers, Red Shankand Greylag Geese.
Pictures from the 1400 tour