Another Day Of Calm Seas

9:00

It was another morning with no wind and beautiful weather in Faxaflói and we were very happy to get so many real summer days in a row. We sailed out into the bay and soon we spotted the first signs of cetaceans, some splashes in the distance towards the West. We approached these splashes and discovered that they were created by a pod of white-beaked dolphins that were jumping out of the water. The dolphins came close to us and started circling the ship. The water was extremely clear today, so we could easily see the dolphins when they were diving underneath us as well. They were riding Andrea’s bow wave and seemed to enjoy the interaction with the ship. After a while, we left the dolphins and kept sailing further out into the bay. The next animal we encountered was a minke whale, and we could see the whole back of this individual, including the snout, blowholes and dorsal fin. We saw two more individuals of this species during the tour, and all of them gave us great sightings. We also managed to get a quick look at a couple of harbour porpoises. These small species of toothed whales are often very shy, so we were happy to see them surface several times in a row. On our way back to the harbour we also spotted a second pod of dolphins, and this one was even bigger with more than ten individuals. They were swimming very calmly and we spent a few minutes with them before continuing our journey.

Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Minke whales, White-beaked dolphins

10:00

Today we had a beautiful morning in Reykjavik. It was as bit cloudy but the was no wind at all and the temperature was nice. We sailed out of the Old Harbour finding perfect conditions for our whale watching trip: no waves, mirror sea, and clear visibility far to the horizont. Our first sighting was a pod of White beaked dolphins. They were around 7 animals, swimming slowly and changing their course all the time. When everybody had a good view of them, we decided to leave the area and continue our search for different species. Soon, we spotted another pod of white beaked dolphins far in the distance. This group was travelling a bit faster than the previous one and heading away from us almost all the time. But they were also friendly and they decided to come closer once, and we could even see them swimming underneath the bow of the boat. Then we decided to say goodbye to them and we continued sailing further out. The next animal was soon spotted by our eagle-eyed passengers: a Minke Whale! We approached the area but the animal went for a deeper dive. We waited patiently and we were rewarded with some really good views of the animal. In the distance, we saw another Minke whale, but it went for a deeper and longer dive. So we stayed in the area of the first one. It was a really good choice because it came up to the surface one more time and much closer to us. So much that we could even hear its breath! When that Minke went for a deeper dive again, we visited a third pod of white beaked dolphins. This one was bigger than the previous ones, with around 10 animals, and they stayed around us for a few minutes, swimming slowly and very relaxed. To finish the tour, we saw them and heard them reaching the crystal surface of the bay and it was also possible to see their bodies under the water…beautiful!

Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Minke whales, White-beaked dolphins

13:00

We sailed out to faxafloi very happily as it practically never happens that for two days in a row we had such an amazing flat sea. In addition, the clouds in the bay were clearing, whist it looked like raining in Reykjavik, boosting our moods up! As we reached the feeding grounds we encountered right away a minke whale while however, we decided to sail forward as we saw a pod of jumping white beaked dolphins. Even though they stopped once we got closer to them, it was very nice to look at their jumping dance into the distance. They stayed with us for a long period of time, playing hide and seek under the boat, and swimming parallel to us. We gave them an amazingly good look. We then sailed on looking for some other whale. We did not have to search for long with such a flat sea and amazing visibility, before we encountered a second minke whale. It was moving fast, most probably feeding so after a few minutes we left it to find maybe a calmer individual. And we did find two more minke whales, which were much more relaxed giving us the opportunity to give them a very good close look as they surfaced with their whole faces!

Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES – Minke whales, White beaked dolphins

14:00

This afternoon, Lilja sailed out of the old harbour of reykjavik with very good conditions for our whale watching trip. Just a little bit of wind, no waves, and visibility clear far to the horizont.  We headed west,  straight to the feeding grounds, and once we got there, we had our first sighting. We found a pod of white beaked dolphins that were a bit spread around. We saw seven or eight animals, but three of them were especially friendly with us. They came straight to the bow of the boat and they spent a long while swimming underneath the surface in front of us. We could see them very well, bow-riding and behaving very curious and comfortable next to us. After this beautiful encounter, we continued to look for different species. And we were very lucky watching two different Minke Whales in the same area! One of them was a bit far from us, but the other one was close enough to gave us a really good view of its body. And we could even hear it breath! This minke whale was for a deeper dive twice, but we didn´t have to wait too long to see it again. And our patience was very well rewarded because the last time it came up to the surface, it was much closer than the previous times, less than 30 m away from our boat.

After this Minke Whales, we saw another pod of white beaked dolphins and we had one more Minke Whale encounter. What a nice afternoon full of friendly animals!

Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES – Minke whales, White beaked dolphins

17:00

Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES – Minke whales, White beaked dolphins