Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The sky was overcast and the winds picking up slightly when we started, but still once far out on the bay the water surface was very smooth. With such conditions, we were able to spot the blow of whales from more than 2 kilometres away. The first blow we spotted was from a minke whale, which was shortly followed by another in the same area. But as we had already also seen a much bigger blow in the distance, we kept heading towards it, as we were confident it was the blow of a humpback whale. And, sure enough, that it was, but actually it was 2 humpback whales AND another minke whale, all in the same area. One of the humpbacks was just incredible, doing a full body breech less than 200m from us! It was also staying at the water surface for several minutes, just watching us and letting us watch it and experinece the incredible feeling you only get when you're this close to nature. It was the kind of tour that brings tears of happiness to your eyes.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 14.00
Report from Hafsulan: The weather condition were very nice, it was dry and the sea was calm. It took us a bit of time before we spotted the first cetaceans. It was a minke whale, it did made it very hard for us to follow him and even though a second one came up this one went away very soon. While waiting for the minke whales some harbour porpoises came to check out the boat, we all got a good look at them. We continued our search but the minkes just didn´t seem to be around. 3 white-beaked dolphins did came up once very briefly to the boat but they didn´t stay. When we where almost heading back two minke whales popped up, and one even came really close to the boat, that was amazing! On the why back we got to see three more minkes, they where going in the opposite direction but as they came up a view time we did get to see them very well. In the beginning we had to had a bit op patience but the end of the tour was very nice, with all these minkes!
- Alexandra Bouman
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: What a wonderful day to be out on the water, it was flat and calm and the bay was teaming with life! Only a short way out of harbour we encountered our first species a pod of 5-6 harbour porpoises. They surfaced so wonderfully we were able to get a fantastic look at their little grey bodies! It was then minke whale galore, as more than 9 individuals popped up throughout the tour. Some individuals surfaced really slowly coming up only a few meters from the boat, while others we got to enjoy in the distance. Midway through the tour we also got to see the incredible humpback whale, it surfaced many times, raising it´s mighty fluke out of air as it did so. All in all a spectacular tour, its was so fantastic to see so much life in the bay, fish included, you could even see the sand eels swimming under the waters surface in their shoals. The birds were also out in their drones including the manx shearwater, the spectacular northern gannet and the very vocal arctic tern.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 10.00
Report from Hafsulan: Despite the light rain we had very good visibility when we left the old harbour of Reykjavik. We went straight to the area were a humpback whale was sighted earlier this day. On our way there we had some very curious harbour porpoises checking out the boat by leaping out of the water in just a few meters distance to us. Some of the passengers even managed to get a short glimpse at a pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins which traveled by very quickly. When we reached our destination we were not disappointed: They humpback whale surfaced a couple of times. It seemed very relaxed and took its time to take deep breaths at the water surface. Best time was definitely when it showed up on our right side only 5 meters to the boat and hold on for a few seconds. All of us could see its massive body and the beautiful white flippers underneath the water surface. What a giant beauty! When we were already quite happy about this amazing encounter, on our way back home we even saw 2 minke whales surfacing in some distance to us. What a nice start into the day!
- Nicole Koestner
Tour at 9.00
Report from Eldey: A smooth water surface and very little wind already were a great start for this tour. Only 45 minutes out of the harbour, we encountered our first 2 minke whales of which one stayed with us quite some time and even surfaced very close on both sides of the boat, as if it were checking us out. A bit further out we had harbour porpoises all around us, another minke whale and, best of all, a humpback whale. It did 4 surface sequences nice and close up, showing it's fluke 3 times! Already on our way back we couldn't believe it when we encountered our fourth species of the day, 6 very friendly and curious white-beaked dolphins. Seeing four species in three hours was just fantastic.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Birds seen today: arctic tern, common guillemot, razorbill, atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, manx shearwater, pomeranian skua, northern gannet, common gull, black-backed gull, black legged kittiwake, european shag and arctic skua.
Tour Status: RUNNING
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today, with beautiful Weather and calm seas. For more information contact elding@elding.is or +354 519 5000
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