TUESDAY, 14 June 2016

Tour at 17:00

Report from Eldey: The sun was still shining up in the sky, but unfortunately a little of wind show up at this time on Faxa bay, which not only increased the cold sensation, but also created lots of whitecaps that made it harder to spot wildlife. But about 30 minutes after the beginning of the tour we saw a small pod of harbour porpoises swimming and jumping between the whitecaps. We continued our travel till we spotted our first minke whale of the tour, swimming really slow in what it seemed to be a resting behaviour. Despite the improvable sea conditions, it was really easy to spot the minke whales today since we were able to see a blow rising over the surface of the water, which is very unusual for this species of whales. We spotted another one and, suddenly, in the horizon, we spotted a huge blow. We thought that it belonged to a larger species, but when we approached we saw that indeed it belonged to another minke whale. The third and last one, but also the most beautiful and grateful. It approached the boat for a few times, giving us the opportunity to watch it peacefully traveling around the bay.

-Alberto Alejandro

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We headed out to Faxaflói bay in calm seas and sunny skies. It was a bit windy but still pretty warm so we hardly used our overalls, which is a good indicator of how nice the weather was. We had been sailing for some time when we spotted a couple of minke whales towards the cone-shaped volcano Keilir. One of them was about 100 m away but the other one was further out. The one that was closer actually swam toward us and came within 20 m of the boat which was amazing but the other one was more elusive and taking long dives. We took pictures of them both and when we looked at the pictures the one that was further away turned out to be Háski, a minke whale we have seen before. We got news that another whale watching boat had seen some dolphins so when the minkes went for deeper dives we headed towards the other boat. It turned out to be a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins and we could spend a long time with them. They swam really close to us and even swam under the boat at one point. After this amazing encounter it was time to head back to the harbour and on our way back we spotted another minke whale towards Hvalfjörður and then we passed a harbour porpoise and yet another minke. So an amazing tour with three species of cetaceans and sunny skies.

-Bryndís Ösp

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Blue skies, serene crystalline waters and a raging sun. Ideals conditions for spotting whales, dolphins and porpoises. About 30 minutes after the departure of our tour, we had our first encounter with a solitary harbour porpoise which was swimming extremely fast underneath the surface. About 5 minutes after we saw a small pod of harbour porpoises of about 3-4 individuals swimming in the same direction of the solitary one. We actually managed to see this cute little ones jumping out of the water now and then, till they disappeared from our sight. We resumed our sailing, but about 10 minutes after we encountered our first minke whale, which apparently seemed to be feeding on the area - as there were lots of small flocks of birds in the area. While we were waiting for this whale to come up again, we spotted not only one but 3 minkys on the surrounding areas! And as we were gentle sailing across this feeding ground, we kept finding more and more minke whales. By the end of the tour we managed to count 6 of this beautiful animals. That experience would have been perfect by itself, but near to the end of our tour we also spotted a pod of 6 - 8 white beaked dolphins! It was also an incredible experience to see the robust bodies of this dolphins swimming that close to the surface. We returned back to the old harbour with the biggest of the smiles, enjoying the beautiful warm sun that today was glittering up in the sky,

-Alberto Alejandro

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: It was a beautiful sunny day, with little wind and a perfectly flat sea. The sail out was as smooth as could be, just a short distance from the harbour a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises were spotted. They surfaced a few times before disappearing beneath the waters crystal blue surface. Further out into the bay our first minke whale was spotted it surfaced a few times only 100 meters away it then arched its great back and went for a deeper dive. We waited for a few minutes for it to surface, which it did a bit further away but were able to catch a better look at this animal. The captain then decided to head a bit further out into the bay. A further two minke whales were spotted in the distance, and once we were up a bit closer we were able to observe these animals surfacing a few times before they went for a long deep dive. These animals were being a bit elusive, so we headed further out. A flock of feeding seabirds were then spotted in the distance and once up close a small pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins were spotted only 100 meters away. However, these were traveling very fast and into the distance so we decided to leave these animals and start heading back. On the fine sail back the sun was beautifully warm and we were even greeted my yet another minke whale which surfaced only 50 meters away! It came up multiple times, before arching and going for a deeper dive. A few more harbour porpoises were also spotted porpoising out of the water!

-Tess Hudson

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: Another day with best sea conditions started for us this morning as we puttered out in Faxaflói. About 30 minutes after leaving the harbour we encountered a large group of 15-20 harbour porpoises. These cute animals were very active, possibly feeding as they created a lot of splashes at the water surface. In the crystal clear water we were able to follow them with our eyes even under the water surface. After about another 20 minutes we came across our first minke whale of the tour. Soon we noticed several individuals in the area and for the rest of tour we basically saw minke whales coming up to breath on all sides of the boat. Some were closer while more could be seen in a greater distance. Twice we also stopped at flocks of feeding birds and admired them while looking out for more minke whales. It is difficult to estimate the total amount of minke whales seen on this tour - but it must have been 8-10 individuals. Every now and then some more harbour porpoises also swam by again. It was an enjoyable tour with loads of stinky minkes in beautiful Icelandic weather and sea conditions. 

- Hanna Michel 

Birds species seen on todays tour. common guillemot, brunnich´s guillemot, atlantic puffin, great skua, artic skua, eider duck, northern fulmar, artic tern, black-backed gulls & kittiwake.