Wednesday 11 August 2021
Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 09:00, 10:00 and 14:00 Premium tour and our lovely vessel Eldey 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).
✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00
Report from Eldey : The sea was extremely calm today and there was almost no wind. The sky was covered in clouds but we still had a very good visibility during this tour. After a few minutes we already had a first sighting with a pod of 4 harbour porpoises. We continued and find many other animals during this tour with probably 8-12 different minke whales! We could stay a while with one of the first that we found but we wanted to see something further away and we found a humpback whale. It was an individual that we have seen many times this summer with a big notch on the left side of the fluke. We did not stay long with this humpback because many boats were coming and we preferred to find something else. We crossed a pod of 7 white beaked dolphin that was very calm and relaxed. They were swimming next to each other and one a bit curious came to see us from close. We went back pointing all the minkes during the way back.
- Miquel Pons
✔ CLASSIC PUFFIN TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00
✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00
Report from Þruma RIB: The sea was like a silk blanket this morning as the wind was minimal and the swell was very little. The sky was overcast so it made for perfect spotting conditions. We began the tour by going to Engey and checking out the puffins who will, unfortunately, leave the land soon for the open ocean. Very soon, we found a minke whale, who was the most friendly one of its species that I've ever encountered. For half an hour, it circled around the boat as close as it could, poking its nose up to the side of the boat and swimming so close under the surface that we could very clearly see its whole body. Meanwhile we were looking at the minke, we saw 3-4 harbour porpoises pretty close by, but the minke had all our attention. After this amazing encounter, we decided to head a bit further out as we saw this huge flock of birds feeding. There, we were honoured by the presence of no less than 3 minke whales feeding! One of them was absolutely huge, the largest one I've seen. As we'd already had the best possible minke encounter, we went even further out, and saw a pod of around 10 white-beaked dolphins. They were not interested in us so we decided to give them space. We had the word of a humpback closer to the lighthouse of Grótta, so we headed in that direction. There we found the humpback whale that we've began to call Davy Jones this summer. It was pretty relaxed, moving slowly around and not showing its fluke. We could only stay with it for a short while as we were running out of time, so we had to leave soon. We also saw about 4 harbour porpoises close to the humpback, and on our way back we even spotted around 4-5 more harbour porpoises! A perfect tour.
- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson
✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
Report from Eldey : The wind picked up a bit but the sea was still great. We first found a minke whale and stayed with it for a while. It is always a bit challenging to follow them but the good condition on the sea helped us. We went further out and found a humpback whale. There was also a pod of dolphins but we quickly forgot about them. The whale was the well known Davy Jones and showed spectacular behaviour during the tour. It came just next to our boat first in front and then in our back and slapped the water many times with its pectoral fins, rolling and swimming on its back. Then it breached ! It was a very breathtaking moment. Every one running from in front to the back to see the whale from closer. Many boats were attracted by the activity so we left to find something else. We did see maybe 3 other minke whales after that during the way back home to Reykjavik.
- Miquel Pons
✔ PREMIUM PUFFIN TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
✔ SEA ANGLING TOUR ON SCHEDULE 13:00
✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00
Report from Þruma RIB: The wind has picked up a bit from the morning, so the ocean was a bit more choppy for this tour. After having observed the beautiful puffins in Akurey, we went to similar areas to where the humpback whale Davy Jones was seen on the morning tour. However, we did not manage to find it, but we found another humpback whale! This one was more active than Davy was in the morning, repeatedly showing us its beautiful fluke that I dod not recognise off the bat. It also treated us to a magnificent breach, but unfortunately another boat was in the way so we could not see it fully. We also spotted a pod of about 4-5 harbour porpoises, which were characteristically shy and did not come close to the boat. As we were leaving the humpback area as it has already shown us everything we could have asked for, we spotted a large pod of at least 12 white-beaked dolphins, but unfortunately they were not sociable and did not show us any attention. We travelled around the bay for about 20-30 minutes more but did not find anything else. However, the tour was overall super good.
- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson
✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 16:00
Report from Þruma RIB: We went straight from one tour to another so the weather was exactly the same – overcast, no rain, little wind and a bit choppy ocean. We again went to Akurey to look at the ever-active puffins before we headed further out to Faxaflói bay. There we found again the large pod of 12 white-beaked dolphins, but as earlier, they were not interested in us. We also found the same humpback whale as we did in the tour before, and it was still very active. It was feeding in the area and moved quite quickly all around our small RIB-boat. It showed us countless amazing high fluke dives, and even did a very big tail slap almost leaving us drenched, it was so close. After having stayed for some time with the humpback, we decided to try and find something else. We came upon a pod of 7-8 white-beaked dolphins, and these were much more fun than the earlier ones. These were jumping straight up from the water and slamming down on it, and coming up to the boat to look at use very closely. We were then running out of time and had to quickly head back to the harbour, but on our way, we saw big splashes in the middle of a feeding flock of birds. After some deliberating, we decided that it was probably a lunge-feeding action by either a humpback or a minke whale, so we stopped for a second to look around. Then we saw the perpetrator, a minke whale, that was quite close to the boat and surfaced around five times before we absolutely had to hurry back to Reykjavík.
- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson
✔ CLASSIC MIDNIGHT WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 19:00
Bird species observed: northern gannets, northern fulmars, puffins, common guillemot, black guillemot, great skua, arctic skua, arctic tern, black legged kittiwake, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull.
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 but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.