Status: RUNNING
Tour at 20:30
Report from Elding: This was the first midnight tour this season when we could enjoy the presence of the midnight sun. All previous days have been cloudy, but finally tonight the sky was totally clear! It was windy when we sailed out on the bay. 2 harbour porpoises swam passed the boat soon after we left harbour. An elusive minke whale also popped up briefly further out on the bay. The bay was bursting of life far out from Reykjavík. Huge flocks of birds were feeding and at least 5-6 minke whales surfaced under them. We had to be quick to spot the whales but sometimes we also managed to see them lunge feeding. 2 white beaked dolphins also showed up for only a short time right before we headed back to Reykjavík. The sailing back to land was so beautiful! The sun casted pink, red and even orange colors on the mountains while we enjoyed life music played by our talented musician aboard!
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: Most of all the weather will stay in our minds, thinking back of this tour. The sun was shining constantly from clear skies and especially on our way home, when wind was coming from our backs as the sun did, it felt like the ideal calm atmosphere to comprehend the adventure we just had: After only a few surfacing of harbour porpoises, nonetheless so that quite everybody had a chance to see them, the suspense began. One minke whale after the other surfaced and let us get closer, before they vanished again leaving us behind within a track of birds to the next. In the end it where at least 4 of them showing up just visible to us before the former one was gone. What fun to follow their lead, and what an adventure!
- Valentin Witek
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: Sun was shining, wind was blowing and the whales were out to enjoy also. Even though the sun was on full it was blustery and cold. Overalls were used to keep warm and hot coco available to purchase if necessary. The harbour porpoises were sooo much fun to watch on this tour. We saw 4 different pods of 2-4 animals. Often they playing in the swells and approaching the boat and with the incredible clarity of the sea we were able to follow them with ease. After an hours sailing we found two minke whales, one on either side of the boat, 1 was particularly awesome as it surfaced slowly and often and like the porpoises you could follow them just beneath the surface. After about 30 minutes we left and headed south, encountered another incredible minke whale on the way. Time was running out by this time so we headed home and saw in the distance a humpback whale, arch it´s back and fluke. We waited a while and was late back in the hope to see it again but unfortunately not. 2 more minke whales were seen on the way home. What a great day.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: We sailed out again under similar weather conditions as on the previous tour, just the wind had slightly picked up. After a great morning tour we sailed out again and soon crossed the first species of the tour: 2 curious harbour porpoises. They came in quite close to check us out but left again as quick as they appeared. A little bit later we spotted the first white-beaked dolphins. All of a sudden they came in for a quick bowride, a bit later we met another pod and later in the tour even a third pod, so probably a total of 12-16 individuals. Almost together with the first dolphins we started to see the first minke whale. The first once being rather shy and elusive, we encountered some individuals which came in quite close to the boat, so we were able to see them up close and take some nice pictures. Probably we saw during the tour a 8-10 individuals, some being elusive, some traveling and some feeding right in front of us. What a beautiful tour on such a sunny summer day!
- Sarah Kompatscher
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding: We headed out to sea in beautiful sunny weather, but the wind cooled us down a bit. The fist spotting of the day were 2 harbour porpoises, the surfaced close to the boat and traveled very fast. Later on we spotted 2 minke whales in the same area but the were shy and did not want to show themselves a lot. We stayed with them for a little bit and then we left them as they were quite elusive. We then spotted another minke that also surfaced a few times for us and got closer to the boat so everyone got a good look. On our way back we spotted 2 more harbour porpoises and enjoyed the sunny weather on the way back to harbour.
-Kolbrún Þóra Sverrisdóttir
Tour at 9:00
Report from Eldey: We left Reykjavik on a prevailing sunshine joined by gentle northern winds. Thus, the first summer day on Iceland provided the conditions for quite an enjoyable tour. It did not take to long after we left the harbour to spot our first minke whale. However, even though it was possible to fallow the animal for a while, it was a bit elusive, presenting a quick surface behaviour. Later on we reached an area packed we flocks of birds and eventually among them we spotted another minke whale and at some point we were actually surrounded by at least 4 minke whales that were foraging. We even got the opportunity to watch one of them perform lunge feeding! We also cross some marine bird species thought the tour such as puffins, guillemots, razorbills, northern fulmars, Arctic skuas and razorbills.
- Ines Cunha
Bird species seen on today's tour include: arctic tern, common guillemot, black-legged kittiwake, herring gull, great skua, lesser black-backed gull, northern gannet, northern fulmar, Atlantic puffin, arctic skua, razorbill, eider duck.
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik on this sunny and beautiful day. There is some wind so there could be some swells out on Faxabay but if you are sensitive to motion sickeness we do offer sea sickness tablets free of charge at the ticket office. Hope you will be able to join us on our search of these magnificent animals in their natural environment.
