Friday, 23 July 2021

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00

Report from Elding: We had south easterlies today with about 3-5m/s winds and this brought with it overcast skies and rainy conditions. We sailed out with optimal spotting conditions but it wasn’t until an hour in the tour when we encountered our first sightings of a mother and tiny calf white-beaked dolphins which were very elusive and rightly so, so we didn’t want to stress out the poor mother and left them alone. We then heard of a humpback whale near by so off we went. This humpback whale turned out to be Davy Jones an individual that has treated us very well for a few months now but it was actually another individual about a mile away that stole the spot light by breaching and flipper-slapping and giving the passengers a real show. Absolutely amazing. On the way back to harbour we saw one minke whale once and a fantastic pod of about 8-10 white beaked dolphins that joined us on our journey home for a short while whilst bow riding, another great encounter. Once back to harbour everyone had huge smiles on their faces. A wonderful morning.

- Megan Whittaker

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00 

Report from Þruma RIB: Unfortunately, the weather was not very kind to us this morning, as it was a bit windy, rained a lot and the sea had a bit of a swell. However, this would turn out to be one of the best tours this month. We quickly found a humpback whale, which was very calm and allowed us to observe itself for a long time. When we finally saw its fluke, we could identify it as Davy Jones, a humpback that had been seen quite often over the past week in the area. From the corner of our eye we spotted another humpback, so we decided to give Davy Jones some space to breathe and go over to the new one, which would prove a good decision. When we got in the area where we saw it, we didn't know its precise location. As we were looking for it, it breached all the way out of the water just about 20 meters away from us! It then continued to breach for about 5 or 6 times, coming well up out of the water and spinning each time. It then went for a fluke dive, and its fluke was almost totally black, which is quite rare and we couldn't identify it. Along with this humpback, we spotted a minke whale coming up for two or three times, but understandably our focus was on the breaching humpback!

-Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00 

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00 

Report from Þruma RIB: The weather had gotten a bit better from the morning, as it had stopped raining and the sea was a bit calmer. We first stopped at Engey to watch the pretty puffins for a while, before heading further out into Faxaflói bay. We found the humpback whale Davy Jones soon, which we had also seen this morning and in the past few days. It was more active now than in the morning, swimming in circles around us, feeding and moving pretty fast. We left him after having watched him for about 20 minutes, and soon we spotted another humpback. That also turned out to be an individual that we had seen this morning, the breaching one with the almost all-black fluke. This time, it wasn't breaching at all, but still put on a good show for us, lunge-feeding into the middle of a flock of birds and a couple of good fluke dives. On our way back, we looked for other species but our efforts weren't rewarded this time. Still, this was a very good tour, and passengers were very curious about the bird species seen feeding in the area around the second humpback whale, especially the arctic terns and the northern gannet.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 20:00 

Report from Þruma RIB: Light rain fell upon us as we exited Reykjavík's old harbour. It quickly dried up once we passed Harpa, and was non-existent during our fun puffin watching by Engey. Once we got further out, we circled around about 7-8 miles from the coast, in similar area to the one where we had found two humpbacks on back to back tours earlier today. We found the first humpback whale soon, but it did not show its fluke very well so we were not able to identify it, but it had something white in it so it was not the same individual that was breaching in the morning – that one had almost all-black fluke. While we watched that whale, jumping white-beaked dolphins (about 4-6 individuals), approached us and played around the boat. We observed them for some time and decided to go back to the humpback as we saw its blow. We thought we were chasing the one with the white in its fluke closer to Reykjavík, but then it suddenly breached! It was about 100 meters away from us, and as we got closer we saw that it was the one with the all-black fluke, clearly an individual with an appetite for gymnastics! We watch that one bring out every move in its catalogue: fluke slapping, flipper waving, flipper slapping, rolling on its back with the flipper in the air, fluke dives and general surfacing. We had to head home way too soon for our liking, this was a tremendous tour.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ MIDNIGHT WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 20:30 

Report from Elding: A charming afternoon to be sailing in Faxafloi: the view was breathtaking, the wonderful colours of the bay created a beautiful painting, and the Whale Fjord (Hvalfjörður) was clearly seen. After almost 30 minutes into our tour we encountered a very long pectoral fin raised into the air. It was a humpback whale! It was fin slapping for a long period of time. Not long after we were able to spot another humpback whale which had a black fluke. Unfortunately, as the wind become stronger the humpback was no more seen. We continue searching, and the passengers were very fond of birds so they pointed to each different species that stood out, for example, artic terns, northern fulmars, northern gannets, great black-backed gull, and of course the atlantic puffins! Sailing back a pod of 10-12 white beaked dolphins approached and began to enjoy surfing with the waves of the boat. One of them was jumping happily.

- Estel Sànchez i Camí

Bird Species ID´d today: Northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, Common guillemot, Arctic tern, Arctic skua, Northern fulmar, Kittiwake, Eider duck, Greater black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Herring gull, Great skua.

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 Premium tour and our lovely vessel Elding for the 09:00 and 13:00 Classic tour. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land. Join us by booking online or contact us directly for more information (elding@elding.is / +354 519 5000).

COVID-19: Keep in mind that passengers and crew are asked to ensure their own hygiene and safety at all times. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and using a hand sanitiser is advised. Masks are not mandatory.