Tour status: RUNNING
Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: The wind had picked up a lot since the last tour and the sea was rougher. We began by sailing north towards Akranes. Soon after we turned west we spotted 3-4 white beaked dolphins at least 700 meters from the boat. It was easy to spot them from a far because they were active and formed large splashes. They slowed down while we sailed towards them, it made it difficult to spot them again so unfortunately, they disappeared. No large flocks of birds were in the bay and even though we searched all around the bay we had to sail back empty handed. We enjoyed cheerful life music on the way back to harbor. As we saw no cetaceans on the tour we gave all our passengers return tickets for another whale watching tour.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Today in the morning two northern bottlenose whales stranded just in front of Reykjavik´s harbour, on Engey, and when we left for this tour they were still there, surrounded by a rescue team trying their best to keep these animals alive. We watched them working for a short while before we started sailing. After an hour of pleasant foraging into the bay there were northern gannets diving among other seabirds, but the minke whales were only to be observed by their blows.
- Valentin Witek
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsulan: The wind and swell had calmed down so the conditions were optimal for whale watching. We began the tour with a brief stop at Engey, an island close to Reykjavík, because we heard news of 2 stranded northern bottlenose whales. It was sad to see the whales lying on the rocky beach but there were a few people on the island trying to rescue the animals. We sailed towards Akranes and on the way we saw a few flocks of feeding birds. Around the birds were 2 pods of 5-6 harbour porpoises. Both pods were busy feeding, coming really fast up to the surface. Further out on the bay we found 2 minke whales. They were also feeding among flocks of sea birds. On the way back in we found a huge flock of birds. Most of them were northern gannets that dove in at great speed.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The wind picked down and we had a very enjoyable sailing experience with a lot of sun (we almost forgot how sun looked like). As we were sailing, we found a lot of activity in the bay. Few dozens of northern gannets were actively feeding and they led us in several occasion to the whereabouts of our beloved cetaceans. In this tour the main star was the minke whale. At least 6 of them were crossing our path (or viceversa) and they were feeding too as they were popping up at high speed. In the way back we had a sad encounter as 2 northern bottlenose whale were stranded in Engey, near Reykjavik.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsulan: End of the summer is more generous for us in terms of weather as again we were sailing under blue sky. Wind was blowing and rocking our boat but it was away from being rough. We went to check one of our our favourite location next the hvalfjordur. Soon we found there shelter from the wind. Whales were more challenging us as they were nowhere to be seen. Even in company of other whale watching boats we could see anything else that a blow. It was like whales were playing in hide and seek with us! On the way back we decided to check once more first place and this time we succeed: 2 minke whales, one big and other small were making circles probably looking for fish. Sometimes it might be more difficult to find whales but this tour was an example why not give up till the end.
- Ewa Malinowska
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: On a sunny day like this sailing is a joy and nothing really can drag down our mood. More or less at the half of our time we have got at sea a minke whale surfaced and we managed to see it another time, but it was surprising us by changing directions and thus being hard to predict. Then it was gone, so we went on. Another minke whale was to be seen once on our way back, but in the end this tour was more about the pleasure of sailing.
- Valentin Witek
Birds seen during our tours: eider duck, black guillemot, common guillemot, atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, black-headed kittiwake, black-headed gull, great black-backed gull, northern gannet.
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. The wind is picking up a bit in the bay, so we could expect some movement out on the boat today. We hope the forecast stays true and we might see some sun today on the water! For more information please contact us by email at elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000.
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