Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: What a perfect end to a perfect day. The sea was so glassy as we left the harbour that you could practically use it as a mirror. Not too far out we saw the blow of 2 humpback whales in the distance but before we could even get that far we were surrounded by at least 6 different minke whales. You could literally pick any direction on the boat to look at and a minke would be bound to pop up there at some point - and they were coming so close you could both hear and smell their blows! After spending some quality time with the minkes we decided to venture further out into the bay in search of those humpbacks sighted earlier, but instead we were joined by at least 3 harbour porpoises. On our return journey we of course had our live entertainment, and it served as a nice backdrop to the minke whales that continued to travel parallel to the boat on our way back into port.
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Possibly the best tour of the day! We sailed out in perfect sea conditions towards where we had seen the humpback whale last. On the way we passed by numerous minke whales, they seemed to be everywhere in the bay. The blow of the humpback whale was strong and we spotted it from 3 kilometers at first. The humpback was feeding at the surface giving us an exciting display surrounded with feeding sea birds. The breath of the whale was easily heard through the noise she gulls and arctic terns that followed the humpback around, trying to catch their share of the food. Minke whales kept popping up around us, we must have seen at least 10 individuals all in all. On the way back we found the second humpback whale of the tour and two pods of harbour porpoises that surfaced that also seemed to be busy feeding.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The weather had really cleared up by the time we left this afternoon. Not too long after leaving the harbour we caught a glimpse of our first animal, we had the blow of a humpback whale! Unfortunately, the animal wasn´t feeling very cooperative so it didn´t resurface. Heads hanging, we went off in search of a different whale and were shortly greeted by a minke whale. This fellow was feeling a lot friendlier and we managed to get a few good looks at it before the humpback whale once again stole the show. It was lunge-feeding and fluking all over the place, it was fantastic! Several minkes tried to compete for our attention by coming up just as the humpback was diving, so we had no chance to be even remotely bored. Grins on our faces, we returned to harbour with several more minke sightings on the way.
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: The conditions were more or less the same although the wind picked up slightly during the tour. We had to go further out on this tour to find life on the bay, both the birds and cetaceans had moved further west. Our fist sightings of the tour was a minke and humpback in the same area. We focused on the humpback whale first as that species is not as common in the bay. The humpback was rather elusive, traveling long distances between surfaces, thus we only sow it far from the boat. Still we got fair looks at the fluke at least twice. After we gave on the humpback we chased some minke whales around, at least 5 minkes were seen on the tour. On the way back got a brief sighting of 6 harbour porpoises that surfaced well out of the water both in front of us and on the side of the boat so everyone outside got to see them.
-Sigurlaug Sigurdardottir
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsúlan: What a trip. Sunshine and rain seemed to be in a battle, one always pushing away the other. But the sea was fairly calm with great spotting conditions and no one really seemed to mind the rain. Our first encounter was with a minke whale that appeared to be resting in the area. Once staying in this spot and looking all around, we actually found that there were 3 minke whales around us in total. We saw some very nice surfaces but then saw a very large blow further off in the distance. Hoping to show our passengers another species of whale we headed its way. And we are so happy we did. First we saw another 3 minke whales but kept searching for the blow we had seen earlier. And we were rewarded with a beautiful humpback whale! We could enjoy its presence for a long time with no one else around but seabirds and nature. We were already so happy with the day and were just overjoyed when we encountered a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins. Although we were already late with getting back into harbour we decided to enjoy these dolphins for a little while and risk being late. It was just brilliant.
- Sabrina Voswinkel
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The conditions were close to being perfect for whale watching, almost no wind and only long swells that did not reduce spotting conditions. The sun even came out warming us up. Many minke whales were seen on the bay, at least 7 individuals, they were spotted all around. Far out on the bay we saw a humpback whale, we got to see the fluke of that humpback four times so it was easy to photograph. On the way back we also found a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins! this was maybe the best sighting of the tour, they approached the boat and swam underneath us a few times. They were so close that we could see their whole bodies, from the fluke to their snout under the water!
-Sigurlaug Sigurdardottir
Bird species seen on todays tours: arctic skua, arctic tern, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, common guillemot, black guillemot, manx shearwater, black-legged kittiwake, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, and northern fulmar.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. There is little to no wind and hopefully the sun will come out from the clouds and help us look for these magnificent animals. Hope you are able to join us today
