Tour at 20:30
A very disappointing tour in all aspects for both the passengers and the crew. Once again Faxaflói Bay was lifeless. Not even a blow from a whale in the distance and if that wasn't enough the Midnight sun didn't show its self either and hid behind the clouds. The best thing about the tour were the seabirds especially the Puffins and I saw a Great Skua which was the second I've seen this summer. Complimentary Tickets all round.
Tour at 17:00
Report from Hafúlan: We sailed out with a stop in Akurey. Again the Puffins were flying around the island and sitting at the surface there. We then headed out and the first whales we spotted were the Harbour Porpoises that quickly disappeared after we had seen them several times. Close by we then found 3-4 Minke Whales surfacing 2-3 times before each deep dive giving us a chance to see them very well.
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: The sea conditions weren't the smoothest but it made the ride that much more fun. We started at Akurey and there were Puffins flying around the island and sitting on the waters surface. Then as we arrived to the main whale watching area we got word from another vessel of some White-beaked Dolphins. They were fantastic albeit elusive to start off with and then later on they were great, bow riding our boat and surfacing a couple of meters from us.
The seabirds were great as well, spotting; Arctic Skuas, Fulmars, Manx Shearwaters, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Gulls and others. So if you're a bird watcher it was a good tour to be on but unfortunately no luck with the Minke Whales.
Tour at 13:00
Report from Hafúlan: This tour was a true lesson on the rewards of patience. Out in the Faxaflói bay, we spent about half an hour looking around seeing nothing more than the big outline of the AIDAluna cruise ship leaving the Reykjavík harbour. The water surface was fairly flat but no sign of whales. Everybody was scanning the surface attentively, the air filled with anticipation. A few good signs (lots of fish, shallow waters, birds, a transmission from another ship) all lead to nothing much. Just when the suspense was getting too much finally some big splashes about 500 m away. White beaked-dolphins and loads of them!! Must have been some 6-7 animals and they were up for some playing around the boat. We stayed with them for 15 minutes, arriving a bit late in the harbour in the end but it was definitely worth it! In the end a fun tour, and definitely the one with the most dramatic changes this summer!
Tour at 10:00
Report from Elding II: We headed straight out to Faxaflói bay on this tour. It was pretty rough out there and the search was rather challenging. Still the tour was successful and we spotted several different Minke Whales, few of them came near the boat while we only spotted the blow from others. Then on the way back we stopped by Akurey to see the Puffins and there were so many of them there flying around the island, the most we've seen for days it was great to see that they haven't left us yet.
Tour at 09:00
Report from Elding: We started the tour by visiting the Puffin Island Lundey where we saw lots of puffins. Then we sailed out to Faxaflói bay and spotted a small group of Harbour Porpoises. They just showed up couple of times so we headed further out in search for bigger animals. We spotted around 3 Minke Whales in the same area, most of them surfacing far away except one which came really close to the boat ! In a while we didn't see any movement but we ended the tour by seeing 2 other Minke Whales. One of them was very relaxed surfacing in front of us which was a nice end of the tour.
Report from Hafúlan: The weather was a bit rough this morning with fairly strong northerly winds and a lot of white caps on the water surface, making it a bit of a challenge to spot whales. We took it easy and started out with a fun visit to the Puffin island Lundey and its cute inhabitants. Heading out into the bay we soon traced a Minke whale and stayed with it for bit. Thanks to everybody's attentiveness, we managed to follow it for a long time even though it was zig-zagging and diving. Thanks to perseverance, we got to see it from 4 metres up close and heard the impressive blow. A lot of seabirds and truly Nordic weather made this a sailing experience of the special kind!