Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: What an amazing midnight tour we had! The sea was calm, sky overcast but we had a little window from where we received some rays from the midnight sun. But the tour was about cetaceans and this evening we were blessed with the best of the encounters. As far as we were spotting the horizon, we saw some blows in distance and a lot of birds flying in that direction, that was a sign! We got close and we saw two minke whales, but it wasn't all, in between them another species showed up, it was the humpback whale! For more than half an hour we enjoyed this two species getting close to our vessel. We were even able to heard their blows and smell our stinky minkies, it was really unbelievable moments that we spent with these two species. After so many good moments with them, we came back enjoying live music from Bjarni. Definitely, it was an incredible tour!
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Once again, the weather did not disappoint. Flat seas, no wind and some some sun shining through the clouds; what more could a guide ask for? We had our first yet slightly underwhelming encounter with a harbour porpoise just minutes after Grotta. after surfacing one the typically timid animal refused to reappear, so we happily trundled on with eager anticipation in our hearts. Before long, our expectations were met and we were surrounded by minke whales! We reckon there were at least twenty separate minke whales, it was ridiculous. What was even more unbelievable is that we had two minkes that were obviously travelling together surface right in front of us - this species is usually solitary so having two together that aren´t a mother and a calf is unusual, let alone having them so close to us! We tried to leave the minkes behind us in search of a massive blow in the distance, but the humpback whale that we knew was there just kept on teasing us and staying out of our reach. But we soldiered on valiantly and were finally rewarded with the humpback calf surfacing twice right next to the boat before once again going for a dive. We´ve decided to name that whale "Pom-Pom" because of the way it waves its fluke like a cheerleader would her pom-poms. Turning back from the humpbacks to make our long but well-deserved journey home, we were temporarily side-tracked by 4 white-beaked dolphins who were curious enough to invesitgate us for a short while. What an action-packed tour!
-Rachel Pool
Tour at 14:00
Report from Hafsulan: We couldn't ask for better conditions. It wasn´t only the weather, but the sea state was like a mirror. Sailing in these conditions is always a pleasure but it´s even more enjoyable when you have a clear view of the whole bay of Faxafloi. All these things combined to offer us an incredible experience with whale watching in our afternoon tour. It didn´t take too long till we found our first species of the day, it was a solitary minke whale, traveling around without any hurries. But it wasn´t all, just few minutes later a lot of minkes added to the previous one and they started to pop up everywhere in every direction, it was a complete madness! After enjoying our minkes for a while we decided to try our luck and explore a little bit more Faxafloi, looking for more cetaceans and we did! We spotted a humpback whale surfacing a couple of times, showing the fluke and disappearing. We tried to locate it again for a long time but it was impossible, fortunately in the way we found a lot of minke whales coming up from time to time. When we were about to give up and come back to the harbour, our humpback appeared again. But this time was much more special, This humpback showed us unique behaviour: lunge feeding and lob-tailing for few times, and in the meanwhile a solitary minke was in the area surfacing close to the humpback. It was a very special moment for everybody and we came back to the harbour with our hearths filled with good feelings and a nice sun as company, what else can you ask for?
-Rodrigo A. Martinez Catalan
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Our afternoon tour had a great start with a group of at least 12 white-beaked dolphins! They were awesome, they were everywhere and they had a few calves with them as well that where very playful and jumped out of the water every now and then. But also the adults for up to some interaction and came as close as a dolphin can get, played around the bow of our boat and went from one side to the other! We were able to spent a while with these dolphins before they headed closer towards Reykjavik. The area was also full of minke whales! We saw probably around 15 of them throughout the whole tour, some pretty close and coming up just meters away from us. They popped up everywhere so no matter where we locked, there was a minke whale coming up! After some time of sailing further out into the bay, we also encountered a humpback whale. First, the animal came up a few times in a row before going for dives and we saw 3-4 nice fluke-ups. After another dive this individual came up just 30 m away from is so everyone could hear its big powerful blow! Then it dove down and we did not see it for the rest of the tour. We waited for more than 15 min but it was nowhere to be seen. So, we looked at a few more minke whales on our was back to the harbour and enjoyed our time at sea. And as always, I forget to mention the 15-20 harbour porpoises that we saw as well throughout the trip.
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 10:00
Report from Hafsulan: Conditions for whale watching were superb today! Very calm seas and slight overcast made it easy to spot animals on the ocean surface. Sailing out and getting closer to our main sighting area, we noticed minke whales everywhere around us, although slightly out of reach. As one of the RIBs of whale safari spotted a humpback whale we joined them and were able to observe a very calm (and perhaps resting) humpback whale. This individuals was surfacing a couple of times very slowly and even showed us its fluke upon descend. We did not want to disturb this animal as it was most likely resting, so we continued to travel through our sighting area. We continued to spot minke whales here and there and even saw a minke exhibit feeding behavior as it was doing a sideway roll/launch feeding close to a flock of sea birds. On our way towards Reykjavik, we spotted some white-beaked dolphins, which was awesome! They were a pod of about 7 individuals with two juveniles and one older individual seemed to stay close, but slightly seperated from this group. They 7 individuals were staying close to one another, with the younger individuals often leaping out of the water. This playful behavior was a pleasure to witness and let us return to the harbour with a smile on our face.
- Friedrich Rittner
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: Despite the sky spitting some light raindrops in our faces as we left the harbour it still looked like promising day. Sure enough when we were level with the lighthouse we had our first encounter with about 10 white-beaked dolphins. They were so curious and really approached our boat, at one point even swimming underneath us across to the other side. It was nothing short of amazing. Leaving the dolphins, we headed towards a group of boats but just before we got there, we saw a huge black-and-white body erupt from the water - it was a humpback whale! As we got closer, it started peduncle-throwing - throwing its tail out of the water, it was spectacular. Then just as we thought it had gone for a dive, it breached again, right in front of us - only a lucky few got pictures though! Being certain this time that the animal wasn't going to breach again, we were soon distracted by the many minke whales and harbour porpoises surrounding us. There wasn't really a single dull moment on this trip!
-Rachel Pool
Bird species seen on today's tours include: lesser black-backed gulls, common guillemots, arctic skuas, atlantic puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, northern gannets, northern fulmars and arctic terns.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. It is raining every now and then but it is a beautiful day and the sun is trying to shine a little. Hope you are able to join us on our search of these magnificent animals
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
