Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: The weather conditions were great with even some sun when we sailed out. Quickly after leaving the harbour we encountered the first of 5! minke whales during this tour. The first minke whale was elusive and we only managed to see it surfacing a few times. The second minke whale we only saw surfacing once. But then we spotted 3 minke whales in one area and two of them surfaced symchronised and in a straight line. A great sight seeing two minke whales surfacing in front of the boat in the sunlight. When these two minke whales went for a deeper dive we spotted a third minke whale a few 100 meters further out. We managed to see all three animals surfacing several times. On our way back we could enjoy an incredible sunset with lovely music from our troubadour.
- Anouk de Plaa
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Weather conditions became much better during the evening tour. We even had a sun heating us up and the sea was calmer. We had a bit of rain during some parts of the tour but not enough to get completely wet. After 30 minutes of sailing we spotted a minke whale, very close to Reykjavik. The animal was surfacing several times giving us the chance to see quiet good. We kept going on the search of something else. The sailing was beautiful, sometimes a rainbow showed up on the top of Reykjavik, we could get very nice pictures of the capital of the country with different colors. We also came across some harbour porpoises which were a bit shy just surfacing a couple of times before they kept on going. We did see other individual of minke whale in the way back, much briefly but still good look of the animal. It was a good way to spend the evening.
- Alejandro García
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: It was a overcast but warm day as we sailed out into Faxafloi bay. The sea was fairly flat and the wind not too strong. After sailing for only 30 minutes we spotted a very large pod of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins a few hundred meters in the distance. As we got closer to these animals they surfaced multiple times all the way around the boat and showed us a few leaps while moving fast through the waters surface. Some harbor porpoises also joined the party surfacing very quickly above the surf before disappearing down below the sea. The pod of dolphins then split into two groups one of which even had two very small calves which we were able to watch surface right next to their mothers and alone as they played around in the surf. After watching these individuals for some time we headed off in search of some other animals. After some time some more harbor porpoises popped up a few times, but we continued further out into the bay. We were greeted by yet another large pod of 9 white-beaked dolphins. These animals surfaced fantastically coming up 30 meters away at times. After a while we had to head for harbor but we were able to enjoy the lovely warming Icelandic sun as the cloud had now parted from the sky.
- Tess Hudson
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: We left harbour with almost a full boat of passengers that wanted to do some whale watching. The rain and wind from the morning tours had stopped and we got lucky right away. A minke whale was found only 15 minutes from harbour. It surfaced around us in calm waters and we could see it very well. The tour continued with two more minke whales. One of them was Midi, a regular here in the bay seen on our tours for many years. Good to see Midi again in the bay! When we had left the third minke whale it only took a couple of minutes before we spotted a pod of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins. It was the same pod that was seen two days ago containing many calves and juveniles! It was so cute to see the baby dolphins surfacing next to their mothers. A great finish of the tour. On the way back a few of us saw 1-2 harbour porpoises passing us by quickly. Over and out!
- Marcus Bergström
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We sailed out with gray skies and rain. During this tour we spotted 4 different groups of Atlantic white beaked dolphins. The first group we encountered consisted of two animals but the animals were elusive and traveled fast so we decided to move on because we knew there were more groups of dolphins in the area. We encountered a group of 7 dolphins with 2 calves and 1 juvenile. 1 Of the calves was still very small and did not know how to breath well yet, putting its little face out of the water with each breath. The animals came very close to the boat and also jumped a few times. While watching this group we saw another group in the distance. When we headed back to Reykjavik we passed this group and the dolphins came very close to the boat. We could follow them very well under the water due to the light grey patterns on their sides. A nice tour with lots of dolphins and very cute baby dolphins.
-Anouk de Plaa
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The first tour of this day started in a challenging weather: the sky was entirely covered by clouds, there was some winds, and most importantly it was raining. Nothing that would harm our chances to see cetaceans, as they are aquatic animals they could not care less about the rain, but we actually got slightly worried when we approached a foggy area as we were sailing further away. The visibility was not at its best, we were intermitently showered by precipitations, but our passengers remained adamant on staying outside to try to spot whales and actively participating to the searching. It was only natural that, attracted by so much strenght and bravery, a pod of white-beaked dolphins appeared in front of our boat. There was about a dozen of them, surfacing around us, sometime taking their sweet time, sometime speeding up. We could stay a little bit with them and enjoy them sometime leaping lightly out of the water, until we got joined by other whale watching boats. We decided to keep the number of vessels around this group low so we moved away to look for other species. Nothing more satisifying was to be found, but the weather kept on getting better and better, so we could have a pleasant way back toward Reykjavik.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Bird species seen on todays tours include: northern fulmar, northern gannet, manx shearwater, arctic skua, lesser black-backed gull, greater black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, common gull, black-headed gull, arctic tern, common gulliemot, atlantic puffin, red-necked phalarope and eider duck.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the old harbor in Reykjavik today. The sea is a little choppy and the wind is blowing from the east so make sure to use our warm overalls on board free of charge. Hopefully you will be able to join us today to see these magnificent giants !
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
