Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: the weather had taken a turn for the worst as the mist rolled in bringing a light rain that drenched you after a few minutes, the wind also picked up but spirits on the boat was still high and we wouldn't let the Icelandic weather spoil the tour. We sailed for maybe 1 hour 1/2 before a passenger with eagle eyes spotted a dark fin at our 11 o'clock. This fin belonged to a white-beaked dolphin, more and more individuals started to show up and after 20 minutes they were all leaping up into the area and landing on their sides or slamming there tails on the waters surface. So many dolphins (at least 10 animals) breaching in a circle at the same time. A spectacle that everyone could not look away from. We stayed and watched for a long time but soon they stopped and had their after dinner siesta. We went looking for minkes but unfortunately none where found. The tour ended on a high note as our entertaining musician, Bjarni played some catchy tunes on the way home. A drizzly and awesome dolphin night out in Faxaflói Bay.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 17:00
Report from Elding: The sea conditions were pretty good but it was really misty and we couldn't see any of the landscape around Faxaflói bay. As our visibility was limited we had to work extra hard to spot the animals. After about 30 minutes of scanning we encountered a pod of white-beaked dolphins, about 7-9 individuals traveling together. They were traveling really slowly and seemed to be resting. Several times we got to see them really close to the boat and everybody got a good look at those beautiful animals which were great. After everybody had their photos we felt like going further and look for some minke whales. We had almost given up hope in the end of the tour when a minke whale showed up really close to the boat. He came up several times and after few minutes we encountered another one a bit further out. Overall this was a good tour and the passengers seemed to like it.
-Katrín Björnsdóttir
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: After leaving the harbour, we went straight away to the area where we were so successful this morning. The sea was still very calm, but the wind had strengthened and a fog was now covering the sea. Our visibility was reduced but we were still hoping to find many minke whales. After a while, we had to acknowledge that the whales had moved away. We sailed further offshore and we finally found two white-beaked dolphins. The two animals were traveling, allowing us to take only few peeks at them before vanishing. Shortly after, we came across two harbour porpoises moving fast. Unfortunately, only few passengers could see them. Determined to not give up, we went back to see if the minke whales had returned to the previous area. Again, we were disappointed to see that none of them came back. We eventually had to head back to Reykjavik and offered complimentary tickets to our passengers.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafsúlan: In the beginning of this tour, the fog had gotten less and a few sun rays made it through the clouds. We returned to the same area where we had such a great time with the minke whales this morning. Indeed, we spotted two minke whales, however, none of them stayed around our boat for a long time. One of them surfaced three times and got as close to us at 60-70 m before it vanished. So, at lest some passengers managed to see it. As we moved on to look for more curious individuals, we came across a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins. They seemed quite relaxed and appeared to be resting. They didn't move around a lot and were also slow. Still, they came close to us and went underneath our boat a few times, so that we could see the white stripe on their bodies shining underneath the water surface. After a while, we decided to look for minke whales again, but only found another small pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins for the rest of the tour.
- Hanna Michel
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We set sail under great conditions. The sea was very smooth, and even if the landscape was hidden by a fog we had a good visibility on the sea. A passenger quickly spotted something behind us but we did not stop to check what it was, since other boats spotted a lot of minke whales in a specific area. When we arrived, we were not disappointed, this area fulfilled all its promises ! 10+ minke whales were surfacing everywhere around us ! The fish finder on board confirmed that there was a lot of fish there, those minke whales were busy feeding. We could take a very close look at few of them, and one individual we confirmed as Aurora even came right in the front of the boat, only 10 meters away from us. It was hard to leave those relaxed whales but we kept on our way to find another species. We finally found two white-beaked dolphins traveling slowly. After a few good looks we came back to the minke whales area to find that they were still here, for our greatest enjoyment. When we ran out of time, we came back at Reykjavik after a very successful trip.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 09:00
Report from Hafsúlan: This morning tour started with great sea conditions, even though we didn't get to see much of the landscape around us due to thick mist and low-hanging clouds. After about 45 min of smooth sailing we spotted our first minke whale. But it was not alone this area, we soon had minke whales all around us, at least 4 individuals. They surfaced regularly and, as we were just floating on the water, came really close to our boat. It was hard to decide in which direction to look, because there were minkes everywhere. We spent a while with them, before we started to look for dolphins. And only after 10 min, we indeed came across of pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins and also had the chance to get a look at this species. Additionally, on our way back to the harbour, a small group of 4-5 harbour porpoises crossed our path.
- Hanna Michel
Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannets, northern fulmars, skuas, kittiwakes, arctic terns, lesser black-backed gulls, common guillemots and puffins.
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