Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: The puffin Island was our first destination in our trip. Great start ! A lot of Puffins were flying around the Island when we stopped, we saw also some other birds like de Greater Blacke-Backed seagull, some Oystercatcher, Fulmars, Kittywakes and Eyder Ducks with chicks. Then we sailed offshore really optimistic, heading straight where the previous tour saw a few Minke Whales. Unfortunately we haven't been lucky and we couldn't fine any sign of cetacean in this tour. The weather, the sunset ... everything was perfect exept the lack of Whale in the area this night. I wish better luck next time for our passagenrs who were brougth back to land listenning some live music.
Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We started the tour at Akurey to see the puffins and they were very hard to see at first because there was not many on the island and only a couple swimming in front. It was only when we started to head away that we noticed them all sitting on the waters surface on the other side of the island and because the sea was quite dark they blended in. Then we sailed out into the bay for a long time until we got word from another whale watching boat about a Minke whale, we headed there and was patient. It surfaced a couple fo times and 10-20 meters from the boat but after it went for a deep dive it wasn´t spotted again. We then sailed a little while more and found an area with two other Minke Whale. On again surfaced very close and many times. It was great. The sail home was warm and calm as we went with the wind. Getting the feeling that the sunset will be one to be outside for.
Tour at 14:00Report from Elding: We went straight out at sea and went again far from land. We spotted first 7-8 White Beaked Dolphins, then further out a Minke Whale, the same than in the morning still feeding producing bubbles and calm circles at the surface, that the guide knew exactly where it will surface again. This Minkie was just an amazing one which had a very active feeding behaviour just close to us around 20 meters several times from our boat. It surfaced many times really fast, excited by the fish in the water. There were a lot of fish under us. Very interesting behaviour to study...
Tour at 1300
Report from Hafsúlan: Again we sailed straight out into the bay and decided to go to Lundey on our way home. This tour we searched once more in a very great area of Faxaflói Bay but we did not had any luck this time. We could not find any sign of a whale on this tour, so we hope to see a lot of passengers again, with the complimentary tickets we gave on the way back to Reykjavík.
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We went straight out at sea and found first a small pod of harbour porpoises who were travelling fast but close to our boat. Then, it took us a long time to find our Minke Whale, the only one of the trip but a good one! We were far out but we saw it surfacing a lot in between diving and changing directions very fast and close to the boat, chasing fish under the surface, and leaving behind itself prints at the surface made by the dorsal fin while diving, which are called calm circles. Also, some feeding behaviour with bubbles coming up to the surface that the guide could sometimes follow the whale and know where it will surface again. We also saw a lot of calm circles while the minkie was under the surface maybe made by bubbles or the movement of the body really close to the surface. We saw the white patches on the flippers as well. we went to akurey on the way back, many puffins were there as well as other species of birds, and so many Manx Shearwaters very close to the boat out in the bay.
Tour at 09:00
Report from Skrúður: We headed out the calm Faxaflói bay this morning and started the tour by going to Akurey to look at the puffins. We were quite happy to see that there was a lot of them around this morning. After the puffin stop we sailed on and after a short sail we spotted some Harbour Porpoises they were very elusive and only few passengers could spot them so soon we sailed on. We kept on searching for a long while and in the end it paid off and we spotted this nice Minke Whale! It surfaced few times in front of us and we all got a good look at this Minke. After a while we decided to head on but only spotted a blow but no whale before our time was up and we had to head back to Reykjavik Harbour. All in all it was a nice tour in a beautiful icelandic summer weather.
Report from Hafsúlan: We left Reykjavík this morning and we sailed straight out into the bay. We were searching in a great area and found 4 Minke Whales during the tour. Unfortunately they were all very illusive and hard to spot, so we decided to give everyone on board a complimentary ticket to try to find the whales another day again. On our way home we stopped at Lundey to watch the Puffins before we entered the older harbor.
Birds seen on today's tours: Manx Shearwaters, Northern Gannets, Fulmars, Puffins, Kittiwakes, Lesser BLack Backed Gulls, Arctic Skuas, Eider Ducks, Arctic Terns, Cormorants.