FRIDAY, 4 JANUARY 2019

Report from Eldey and Hafsulan: Looking at the water from land it was a welcomed surprise by how good the visibility actually was once on the water. Even better that we went out with two of our boats today. Not just for the weather, which was warm and actually raining much less then the forecast had led us to believe, but mostly for the wildlife. There was so much to see today! And so close to land too. Both of our boats sailed out past the island Viðey and towards the island Lundey, where we knew a humpback whale had been seen yesterday. On our search we were greeted by a flock of numerous bird species feeding, together with at least 3 harbour porpoises and even a harbour seal poking it's head out of the water to see what's going on. Northern gannets were diving into the water to catch fish so we were certain we were in a very good area. Which was quickly confirmed as we spotted the blow of a humpback whale. We assumed it was the same individual we had seen just two days ago. However, after this one lifted it's fluke, so it's tail, out of the water we could tell it is a different one. Wonderful how many of them have been coming into the bay this winter. After staying with this whale for an hour, we left it to keep feeding on it's own and tried our luck to find hopefully another species. Which didn't take even 5 minutes! Only they found us. A wonderful pod of 8-9 white-beaked dolphins, including a calf, playing around us. They kept diving under the boat, making us all walk from one side to the other, performed bow-riding and a few jumps right in front of both our boats. This was an absolutely wonderful and wildlife filled tour and a day where I just wish the sun wouldn't set so we could stay on the water for many more hours.

 

- Sabrina Voswinkel

 

Birds seen today: northern gannets, eider ducks, red-breasted mergansers, cormorants, black-headed gulls, iceland gulls,  northern fulmars, razorbills, common guillemots, black-backed gulls, black headed- gulls, glaucous gulls, black-legged kittiwake.

 

We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. There could always be some movement out on the bay and we do have sea sickness tablets at the ticket office for those who wish, and be sure to make use of our warm overalls to keep warm.

 

For more information please contact our ticket office by email at elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000