Tour status: RUNNING
Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: our last tour of the day started very promising as we saw a tiny harbour porpoise as we were leaving the harbour. A while later 2 pods of white-beaked dolphins appeared at different moments during the tour, around 8-10 of them in total. After a long wait, a small pod of 4-5 harbour porpoises jumped next to us and few minutes later a big minke whale surfaced several times very close to our boat. All of these encounters next to the spectacular sunset which seemed to be a fire in sky, made our trip a great one.
Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: We finally got to see some sun as we sailed in to the great bay of Faxaflói. Our first encounter this tour was a minke whale that surfaced in front of us. We were able to see it for a couple of times before it went for a deep dive and went away. After this good encounter with the minke we had to sail for a while to find more animals. After about 45 minutes of sailing without seeing anything we spotted a pod of around 9-11 white-beaked dolphins. They were very active, jumping out from the water and then they were bow riding. We then left them as our time was running out but on our way back we saw another pod of 15 dolphins that were also very active. It was truly a great evening out at Faxaflói.
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We left the rainclouds behind us, when heading out into the bay this afternoon. Sea conditions were rather smooth, with a little bit of swell. After searching for a while, we came across 3 pods of white-beaked dolphins, in total about 20 individuals. The first pod was mostly traveling at a leisurely pace, allowing all passengers to take some nice photos. The other two pods were more active, doing some jumping and diving beneath the boat. It was another great encounter with these amazing animals! We kept searching the bay, but it seemed very quiet after this sighting. However, on our journey back to the harbour we found 2 minke whales. The first one was traveling just past the front of our boat, so everybody was able to see it, while the other one was showing a rather elusive behaviour, only showing up once. Still, it was a great ending for our tour.
-Diana Besel
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: It was one of these rare days that there was no difference of the water's surface in the harbour and out in the bay. There was no wind and eventually even the sun was shining through a slight layer of clouds, warming but not blinding us. To sum it up: Conditions were perfect! Also it did not take too long for us to accomplish our everyday main goal to find cetaceans. Easily we could see the 4 minke whales of this tour, some of them from a mile away or so. One of them was feeding on the surface so the whole head was to see out of the water, which is a very rare thing to witness. One pod of five, another one of at least 10 white beaked dolphins crossed our paths so we stayed with them another 20 minutes before a last tiny minke whale on our way back rounded this tour up.
- Valentin Witek
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsulan: the day couldn't have been better today. We started with light rain but as soon as we left the old harbour behind the sky cleared up and we discovered a flat and silky sea. With these conditions finding cetaceans was only a matter of time and we didn't have to wait too long. Our first encounter was a pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins which were traveling in a relaxed mood. After a while we headed towards another area to discover 2 minke whales but our best moment happened afterwards when we came across with 1 minke whale and a pod of 4-5 harbour porpoises actively feeding over mackerel, which was very abundant and active in the surface of the water. In our way back we could even enjoy sun, smooth ride and 1 last minke whale near the harbour. Without any doubts, it was an extraordinary tour and experience.
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: We had smooth sailing this morning but still it was raining but as the whales don't care about the rain we were excited to see some whales. Our first encounter was with a pod of 8 white-beaked dolphins. They were very active, jumping out out the water and traveling fast. We were able to travel with them for some time and enjoy their presence, at one point there may have been around 15 of them in the area. Next up we saw 3 harbour porpoises that surfaced next to the boat but left the area as soon as they were pointed out. After some search we then saw a minke whale and got to have a long encounter with it. Then later on there was another one in the area so we had 2 of them surfacing in front of the boat. We then sailed back to Reykjavik, saw more harbour porpoises, around 5 of them and got to harbour after a very good tour.
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Birds seen during our tours: northern fulmar, northern gannet, arctic tern, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, atlantic puffin, glaucous gull.
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today, sea conditions are favorable, but there could always be some movement on the bay so seasickness tablets are available for those who wish. We are expecting rain today, so be sure to make use of our warm overalls on board the boats! For more information, contact us by email elding@elding.is or by phone +345 519 5000.
