Tour at 17:00 Report from Elding
The wind had picked up a little bit this afternoon but we were very excited to go out after a great succes with previous tours. We headed very far out and once we were in that area where they were seeing the humpback whale we saw a big blow. We saw the blow three times but never the whale itself. But then suddenly in a distance we saw a BIG SPLASH! And again and again and again! This was a breaching minke whale! Soon we found out there was not only one but at least three or four BREACHING MINKIES! We could not belive our eyes! They were swimming very fast and breaching again and again. We also saw two or three minke whales close to the boat surfacing many times for us. What a day!
Tour at 1400
Report from Skrúður.What a GREAT TOUR ! 3 SPECIES this afternoon Humpbacks, Minkies and Porpoises! We had to go again a little bit further out in Faxafloi bay, but then we got our first Humpback Whale, as well as our first Minke Whale. But the more we stayed the more Humpback whales we saw, maybe 3-4 of them, they appeared at different places around the boats as well as some minkies. Both of these species were surfacing 2 meters from the boat in front and on the right side of the boat, that the passengers could see their whole bodies under the surface and when breathing, as well as the long white pectoral fin of the humpbacks. Even a minke whale showed us its whole body. Amazing! Then to top it all, out of nowhere came out a pod of 5-10 harbour porpoises on the right side of the boat coming from under the boat. A lot of birds too : Arctic terns, manx shearwaters, plunging gannets, puffins, common guillemots, razorbills, arctic skuas, kittiwakes, gulls.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: The wind picked up a little bit but it was not that cold any more when we headed out into the bay. Compared to the last weeks there were not that many Puffins around but hopefully they might just been out on sea today. After our short visit at the island we started to head straight out, knowing that we'll have to go far. After a long time sailing we knew that this was definitely the best thing to this afternoon. First we spotted a pod of 5 -10 White Beaked Dolphins, busy feeding in an area with Kittywakes above them. Then we found the first Minke just surfacing in between and another one and one more and... At least there were 7+ Minke Whales in the same area surfacing all around the boat, surfacing not more than 15 meters away from us. But as this would not be enough, suddenly a really big Humpback Whale surfaced not more than 40 meters away from us. And this was incredible as it came very slowly close to our boat dived underneath and surfaced on the other side again. We could see the whole body under the surface, heard the blow and it showed once the fluke. Magic moment in the busy marine life far out in our home bay.
Tour at 1000
Report from Elding.We headed further out in Faxafloi bay this morning to find our whales. And we find two Minke Whales, one was closer the other one in the background. It seemed to swim in the same direction not surfacing a lot, as if it was resting. But we had a good look at it sometimes very close to the boat. We saw a third one later but far away. There was a lot of birds, mostly arctic terns, guillemots and puffins, but some razorbills, arctic skuas, kittiwakes, gulls, and few gannets. We finnished the tour at Akurey island to see the puffins. A poorer sighting but still a good one and passengers had a great time in the bay with the calm sea, the great scenery, the birds and the nice weather.
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: We started our day in a really cold morning wind and decided to stop on the way back at the Puffin colony Akurey. We headed far out into Faxaflói Bay and not only a little bit, this tour we had to go really far until we spotted something. First we saw one Minke Whale, that surfaced shortly in front of us. But at the same moment we recognized that there was a pod of Orca visiting us! Wow, what a great surprise, no one on board was expecting today. We straight tried to get closer to them and got a great look. They were in all different sizes, females with calves (one of them was very small) and males with big dorsal fins surfacing at the same time. We followed them for a while and once they came really close. What a great start into a day and a unforgettable moment in Faxaflói Bay.
Photos from todays tours taken by Lukas Kindermann and video by Bastien Gueit