SUNDAY, 30 JUNE 2019

✘TOUR CANCELLED | at 20:30

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 17:00

Report from Eldey: Icelandic weather really can change in a heartbeat. We now faced much stronger north easterly winds than on previous tours and these brought waves with whitecaps with them. But we know that wildlife doesn't mind the weather, so of course we were optimistic to find some cetaceans in the bay. Going north, we had two occasions when we caught a glimpse of two different minke whales. However, they proved to be very elusive and did not come to the surface within our range of sight again. Also changing our direction and going towards the south west we again followed a blow that we spotted, once again though seeing this individual only once. Thus, despite our best efforts, no whales were seen on this tour for more than one surface, which is of course not up to our standards. We offered complimentary tickets to everyone for another tour with our company within the following two years.

- Diana Besel 

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 14:00

Report from Hafsúlan: Sailing out of the Old Harbour was sure much more calmer then on the previous tour. This is just another reminder of the fast changing weather conditions in the subarctic region. Even though we saw all possible bird species that could be seen in the bay and many many of them, we didn't manage to have a whale of a time like we usually do on our tours. In one area we saw one minke whale but for a very short while and just a few glimpses. For this reason we gave out complementary tickets to our guests, so they can have another try at the safari. What was bizarre was the abundance of feeding birds all around us and the absence of anything bigger than that. We did however have a blast with some acrobatic northern fulmars that were gliding next to our heads for half an our, doing all kinds of stunts.

-Lucas Heinrich

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 13:00

Report from Eldey: How I love it when the sky opens up like that and the sun greets all of us as we leave the harbour. At the beginning of the tour, winds had calmed down and it was a beautiful afternoon on the water. Only after the first hour of sailing did the winds pick up again. But no one was bothered by that as we spotted our first minke whale feeding under a flock of birds. It was creating waves as it rolled on it's side to increase the amount of fish it could catch in one go. Even it's white belly and pectoral fin were visible at one occasion. As we watched this show, a second minke whale came to the area and we simply stopped our boat and enjoyed watching the two of them feeding. Our way back again led us aong the stunning Snaefellsness landscape and finally back to the harbour with many smiles all around the boat.

- Sabrina Voswinkel

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: The sea was a bit choppy offshore, but our passengers had proper sea legs and lived up to the challenge! Everybody spent most of the time outside, committed to the common goal of finding cetaceans out there. As we intensively scanned the sea, it took us some time until we find our minke whale! As this one was foraging, it went for very long deep dives and its surfacing sequence was quite unpredictable. Therefore, though we had a few glimpses of the latter, we decided to resume our search and try to find something else. And so we did! On our way back, group of 5 or 6 white beaked dolphins decided to check us out! Our chins dropped as they approached our vessel quite closely, posing for everybody’s most craved pictures and videos. As the animals were so comfortable around us, we were able to enjoy the for quite a long while. On our way back it was hard to drop our smiles off our faces!

- Inês Cunha

✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | at 09:00

Report from Eldey: Winds were coming from the north east this morning, making the bay a bit wavy and also making it feel colder than in the last days. But the visibility was great despite some white caps and there were numerous birds around to help us find the more productive areas. We approached one flock of birds in the hope of spotting something feeding alongside with them, and sure enough! A minke whale surfaced within 80 meters of our boat. And as we were watching for it to surface again, we spotted another 2 minke whales behind us. We stayed, watching them feed, for over half an hour. At one time one minke even swam on it's back and the white coloured belly was reflecting the light so we could see it under water. As we had enjoyed some great sightings, we decided to sail towards the Snaefellsness peninsula to continue our search for perhaps more species. Although we did not have further encounters, we enjoyed beautiful views of the surrounding mountain ranges and had a lovely sail back to the harbour. 

- Sabrina Voswinkel

Birds seen today include: atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, black-backed gull, kittiwake, common guillemot, sooty shearwater, cormorant, manx shearwater.