Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: It was a bit of a damp start as there was light rain when we left the harbour and throughout most of the tour. The sea was calm and the conditions were good for spotting cetaceans. We made our way out to the area where a humpback had been sighted on the previous tour. During this time we saw lots of seabirds flying around and rafting on the water. It was some time before we had our first sighting. Then, in the distance, the unmistakable splashes of dolphins could be seen. As we got closer, we could clearly see the dark, curved dorsal fins of about 7 white-beaked dolphins breaking the surface of the water. They were in two separate groups. One group of a few individuals were milling about whilst the other group were swimming at speed, porpoising, towards them. We watched them for a short while as they swam at speed parallel to the boat. However, a blow was seen in the distance. It was a humpback whale, so we made our way towards it. We watched it as it surfaced a few times and then went for a deeper dive but it would not raise its tailstock and flukes out of the water. It repeated this pattern many times, each time failing to reveal its flukes. Despite strongly arching its back for a deeper dive it never fluked and each time many of us cried out in the expectation that it would fluke and each time we were disappointed. After watching it for a while, it suddenly surfaced close to the boat with its mouth wide open. It was lunge feeding and we could clearly see its baleen. Incredible! We saw it lunge feeding a few more times but not as spectacularly as the first. What a sight to see! After spending some time with this whale we decided it was time to leave it to feed and head off in search of the dolphins we had seen earlier whilst making our way back to the harbour. Unfortunately we did not see them again. A wonderful evening tour!
- Julia Benson
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: As soon as we headed out this evening, some rain accompanied us for some time but stopped when we were further out at sea. As on the previous tour, we went to the area with the humpback whales. Along the way we came across a minke whale, then a small group of harbor porpoises and then another minke whale! However, we did not slow down but kept heading straight out. Soon we could see a zodiac in front of us that watched the humpback whale and that`s also where we found it after the zodiac had left the area. It was the same humpback whale that we saw on the morning tour yesterday; it has a lot of scars on the back and a part of the tail seems to be missing. It`s difficult to tell what exactly happened to this humpie, one possible scenario is the entanglement in fishing nets which is a huge problem for all cetacean species. Many wounds seem to have healed and since the animal does not appear to be emaciated, we hope that it is doing fine despite its rough past. (Good luck, humpie, we hope you´re okay!) As we slowly headed back to the harbor, we also saw another two minke whales!
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: Beautiful sailing out from the port with a little bit of wind but a very calm sea. We were a big group of enthusiastic sailors very helpfull in the search of some cetaceans. After 30 minutes of sailing we came across the first minke whale which we could see for several times at the surface before it went for a deep dive. Nevertheless we kept going out of the Bay trying to look for something else, and so we did. We spend about 30 minutes next to a humpback whale which was swimming parallel to the boat. The animal was feeding and resting in the area, coming up every 3 minutes to breath, very calm and easy going. The highlight it was a breached of the individual in front of the boat about 50 meters far away. It came all the way out of the water. Beautiful jump! We also saw a group of 3-5 harbour porpoises swimming into Faxafói.
- Alejandro García
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: On this tour we decided to head straight back to the area with the humpback whale(s) to find them again. On the way there, we first saw a small group of 2-3 harbour porpoises, and then 2 minke whales traveling by themselves. We didn't slow down but already got a first look at these animals as it took as some time to get to the area where the humpbacks were last seen. After 1 hour and 20 min we reached the area and first saw another minke whale, then the humpback whale in front of us and also a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins in the distance. More harbour porpoises were also around. First, we spent some time with the humpback which was behaving very whale watching friendly, as it came up frequently and only diving for about 3 minutes. At some point it surfaced only 50 m away from us and still came closer so that we could here the powerful sound of the blow! After some time we headed over to the dolphins that also were still hanging in the area and feeding. We got some nice look at them with their white stripes and white snouts before we headed back to the harbour. On the way home we saw another two minke whales and harbour porpoises (4-5) again.
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: On almost flat sea we sailed out from the Old harbour. We had heard from other whale watching boats that had sailed out one hour before us that there were at least 2 humpback whales and a lot of bird activity further out in the bay. We decided to travel for over one hour to reach the area and on the way there we first saw 1 minke whale and then 1 harbour porpoise. Since we had a long journey in front of us we didn't stop for these animals. When we reached the area there was 2 humpback whales travelling a couple of hundred meters away from each other. We started to follow one of them and saw the whale surface a couple of times. This individual didn't seem to bring up its fluke when it went down for a deeper dive (it just arched its back), and it started to move further away. Instead we turned the boat to have a closer look at the other humpback. This whale kept surfacing 4-6 times before it went down for a deeper dive, which made it very easy to follow, Everytime when the whale went for a deeper dive and showed its fluke there was a synchronized "Aaah" on board from the passengers. Another minke whale showed up and it was a blast to see so many cetaceans and birds in the same spot. On our way home we had to stop once again for wildlife. This time it was a minke whale and a humpback together with a lot of sea birds, probably all feeding in the same area. Since this humpback neither brought up its fluke it might have been the same individual that we saw further out in the bay. Really great to see so much wildlife in the bay today!
- Johanna Bergman
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: We were the first ones to head out in to Faxaflói on this beautiful morning! Excited about what we might encounter, we started to search for cetaceans and soon came across 3-5 harbour porpoises. They traveled quickly along the side of the boat closer towards shower and created a lot of splashes. The next species we encountered was the white-beaked dolphin! We saw a pod of about 6 individuals, a bit spread out over a larger distance. We managed to get closer to some of them to admire their beautiful appearance with their white stripe along their bodies and then we even saw them leaping out of the water! After some time we moved on soon came across two minke whales! They were not traveling together but a few hundred meters away from each other. We were lucky enough to get a look at both of them before we heard from another boat that they had found a humpback whale! Therefore, we headed over there and were able to also cross the humpback whale off our bucket list for the tour! There were actually 2 of them, one was a bit further away, and before we had to say goodbye to the humpback, we were also able to get another look at a pod of about 6 white-beaked dolphins that started feeding in this area. On our way back, we saw another two minke whales and also a few more harbor porpoises close to Reykjavík.
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today`s tours include: northern gannet, northern fulmar, razorbil, common guillemot, Atlantic puffin, arctic tern, arctic skua, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on a calm but cloudy day. There is little to no wind and lets hope the sun can break out of the clouds
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