Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: It was a lovely afternoon as we sailed out into the bay, with flat seas and a warm wind. It didn´t take us long at all to spot the cetaceans today, we were barely 25 minutes out of harbour when we spotted large splashes in the distance. Once closer these were identified as the wonderful white-beaked dolphins. Which surfaced so slowly and came up just metres away from the boat, then swam under us multiple times giving us a whale workout in the process! We could identify a few of the individuals we were watching due to the cuts in the dorsal fin, such as our regular Large Nick. We were able to stay with these animals for some time before deciding to head off further into the bay to search for some other animals. Which didn´t take too long at all, before we knew it we were watching a minke whale surfacing multiple times, coming up wonderfully close, we could even hear it breathing. Harbour porpoises then sprang out of the water surfacing many times, giving us a nice look at their little bodies before disappearing under the surface. Another minke was then spotted in the distance, so we decided to go check that one out too! This individual surfaced wonderfully close many times and we got a lovely look at this animals broad body. It was then time to say goodbye to this minke and started heading back to harbour. When not even five minutes had passed, not one but two minke whales surface just 100 metres away from us, so we slowed down to watch the most awesome dive sequence before continuing back to Reykjavik. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: It's hard to believe it, but for the fourth time in a row we sailed on flat sea with excellent spotting conditions ! Naturally with such clarity it did not take long before spotting whales, dolphins and porpoises. It actually happened in a kind of festival, with first a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins that, despite allowing us satisfying looks, did not stay for long. But fortunately harbour porpoises appeared out f nowhere in the same area and, going against their usual behaviour, stayed with us for quite a while and approached us closely. While following them we ended up encountering a minke whale, then one more, and one more... This area was overcrowded with cetaceans ! We met a second pod of more relaxed white-beaked dolphin constituted by a dozen of individuals, and then even more porpoises (about 30 in total), and had thrilling sightings of minkes surfacing close to the boat ! At the peak of activity it was quite confusing and hard to focused since so many things were happening at the same time ! Needless to say, we had a brilliant time and were spoiled with cetaceans today.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: We left the harbour early this morning feeling like leaving a safe place as long as Reykjavik was sunny and Faxafloi was covered by clouds in which seemed to appear the beginning of a perfect storm. Despite this sensation, weather today gave us a chance despite the overcast sky and we enjoyed a nice sailing experience with almost no wind and waves. As soon as reached the main spotting area we started to see few pods of harbour porpoises. Contrary to their normal behaviour, they weren't elusive at all and we had the opportunity the see really close these small animals. But that wasn't enough so we decided to go further looking for our beloved cetaceans. It didn't take too long until we found another big pod of harbour porpoises and, for our surprise, we spotted a minke whale in the same area! In this occasion, harbour porpoises and no seabirds indicated us where was the food and where to localise this beautiful animals. We could contemplate the breathing sequence of this fast rorqual a couple of times. But it wasn't all! Just few minutes later, we discovered a small pod of white-beaked dolphins, swimming elegantly and without any rush. They surprised us swimming underneath the boat. Nonetheless, we insisted in our search and we found another pod of harbour porpoises and, how lucky we were, another minke whale which surfaced few times not far away from us. With this fantastic feelings we came back to Reykjavik but we were able to see more harbour porpoises and a couple of white-beaked dolphins in the way. Seabirds were surprisingly abundant and we enjoyed the presence of puffins, seagulls and guillemots. It was such an incredible whale-watching experience for a Sunday morning!
- Rodrigo Martinez
Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannet, arctic skua, manx shearwater, atlantic puffin, common guillemot, black guillemot, northern fulmar, eider duck, black-legged kittiwake, icelandic gull and great black-backed gull.
Tour Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. The sea should be quite calm today but if you are sensitive to motion sickness we do provide seasickness tablets, free of charge! Hope you will be able to join us on our search for these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
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