✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 19:00
Report from Hafsúlan: What can I say except - perfect way to end the day! We sailed out on still flat seas and the skies nearly clear. Snaefellsjökull, our largest volcano, was looking beautiful in front of the already orange-red sky. After less than an hour, we encountered a pod of at least 13 white-beaked dolphins that came to bowride at first, with the youngest within the pod jumping over and over, and then showed us pretty amazing feeding behaviour. Also the norhtern gannets were plunge diving right next to us, and numerous moon jellyfish in the water were beginning to be luminescent with the light of dusk. Already in aww, no one could stop from smiling when we found a basking shark that we watched coming wihin only centimeters of us with it's mouth wide open and it's dorsal and tail fin reaching out of the water. Such a rare and fascinating sight!
- Inês Cunha
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 17:00
Report from Eldey: And once more we went out into Faxafloi Bay today, once more searching for cetaceans. The weather got a little fresher and the sky was covered in clouds, but the sea was still calm and provided us with perfect spotting conditions. After less than an hour sail a passenger and I spotted big splashes in the distance. After informing the captain and changing the course of the boat, all passengers wide awake and helping to find the cause for the splashes, we sailed for another 15 minutes but could not find the animal. Then the captain spotted a minke whale, but when we got to the area where the animal disappeared we were waiting for it to surface again, all we did see were 2 harbour porpoises crossing our path. So we decided to follow the call from another whale watching vessel, because they had spotted another seasonal visitor: 1 basking shark. This slow moving animal was very visible already from far away and we were able to enjoy its present for a while before it decided to go on a deeper dive. We then took up our search for dolphins again and found a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins, very calmly milling and moving around our boat, which allowed us to enjoy those beautiful animals before we had to head back to the harbour. A great finish for the day.
-Christina Winkler
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: Although clouds had now pulled together a bit, it still was very pleasant outside with the wind barely noticable. We sailed for the area where we had seen our minke whale on the previous tour, amongst the fishing boats, but did not see it again. However, there were numerous harbour porpoises around today and in such a playful mood! We encountered them on two occasions during our tour. Apart from the porpoises we did not spot any other cetaceans during this trip, which is of course not up to our standards. That's why we offered our passengers complimentary tickets, so they can return for another whale watching trip for free, during the next two years.
- Diana Besel
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
Report from Eldey: How much I was waiting for one day like today. The sun was shining, sea conditions perfect and very entusiastic passengers. We were getting out of the harbour towards our usual spotting area and we did not wait too long for our first sighting when 2 harbour porpoises showed up next to the boat. It was very usual to see a lot of these cute mammals poping up and dissapering after a couple of minutes. Once we got to the area where we found minke whales on our previous tour, we just needed 15 minutes to spot our first minke whale of this tour. It was coming up many times to the surface not far from the boat so it was easy to take nice pictures of it. Meanwhile we saw in the distance how the other whale watching boats followed another individual of this beautiful cetacean. Unfortunately we were running out of time so we went back to the harbour enjoying a wonderful sail.
- Jose Manuel Marco
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: Summer is back!! And hardly an overall needed. The wind decided to go on holiday today and left us with mirror flat seas and a stunning visibility. It was as we were in line with Keilir when we encountered our first minke whale of the tour. It was a bit elusive, coming up for 2 surface sequences of 3 breaths and then disappearing. But with a lot of time left we just kept on our path and were delighted to have 3 harbour porpoises playing around us for a while along the way to another minke whale which was feeding in a fishing area. It showed itself by raising it's mouth out of the water first numerous times, catching plenty of fish while doing so. As time began to run out, we sailed back and saw at least another 8 harbour porpoises ands even some of the last few puffins remaining in Iceland. Let's go on another tour, what a good day!
- Sabrina Voswinkel
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00
Report from Eldey: This morning we started out into the bay with a lot of sunshine and no wind or waves whatsoever. Along that mirror flat sea we sailed for about 45 minutes until we found 1 minke whale. The animal was super easy to follow, moving calm and relaxed, it surfaced 3 to 5 times before going for deeper dives, probably foraging on the bottom of the bay. Once it came up super close to our boat and all passengers definitely got a very good look at it. After just over 30 minutes we continued our search for more cetaceans. Except for a second minke whale we saw in close proximity to the first individual, we did find an estimated total of 10-12 harbour porpoises surfacing all around us during the tour, with three individuals again super close to our boat on the way back to the harbour. It was simply a fantastic tour and rthe best day to be out at sea.
-Christina Winkler
Bird species identified today: northern fulmar, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, common guillemot.
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. If you are prone to getting sea sick, we do have sea sickness tablets available free of charge at the office and on board. Make sure to dress warmly and make use of our warm overalls as it is always colder on sea than on land. For more information contact us by email elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000.
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