Wednesday, 18 August 2021 | Elding

Wednesday 18 August 2021

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00

Report from Eldey: The sea state was very smooth albeit, a reasonably long swell was noticeable throughout. The tour started very well with a lone minke whale being sighted at Engey, just off the coast of Reykjavik. We were able to get very close and rewarding views after being patient and slowly edging closer. Our next encounter was only 10 minutes later with a humpback whale that appeared to be feeding. The whale was a little difficult to follow as its movements were unpredictable. We saw the whale up close, and it showed its fluke on one occasion. Harbour porpoises were also seen during the tour. A small pod calmly swam on our right hand side, surfacing many times.

- Mike Smith

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE x2 | 10:00

Report from Þruma RIB IV: There was a bit of a swell in the ocean today as we headed out from the harbour, but luckily the tops of the waves were far a part, making for a smooth sailing. There was almost no wind as well, so the ocean was like a velvet blanket. We looked at the last puffins remaining around Engey this breeding season, before we headed out to the bay. We found a very calm and inquisitive minke whale, that circled the boat a few times, very close. A calm minke wale in calm ocean – it does not get much better on the RIB boats. On top of that, another minke whale was swimming just nearby, but did not get as close. Then we went further out and found a large 12-15 individual pod of white-beaked dolphins. Those dolphins were playful and came close to the boat to check us out, and they had about a year old calf with them that was testing out its jumping skills, much to our amusement! We then circled the bay a bit, encountering two more pods of 3-5 white-beaked dolphins, but did not stop for them as we were looking for a humpback whale. Just a little later, we found our humpback whale, pretty close Grótta lighthouse. It was hard to see its blows in the lighting conditions and the wave tops, but we managed to get three beautiful fluke dives from it, rather close to our boat, before we headed back home to harbour.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

Report from Þruma RIB II: Quite similar than my colleague up there, we had a very nice and smooth drive in this long swell. We started watching puffins at Akurey and went in direction of south to find the whales. We first found a pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises. We stopped a bit an continued but very quickly we found a minke whale. The absence of wind was making the spotting very easy and we could see very well this minke surfacing many times with its very pointy rostrum piercing the surface. There was another group of 3 harbour porpoises that came quite close in front of the boat. We went for more species and found a pod of 8-10 white-beaked dolphins. First those dolphins were quite discrete but after a while some of the babies start jumping in a very adorable way. There was probably only 3-4 adults and the rest were juveniles and calves. Other boats arrived and we let some space for those lovely animals we had a last encounter to make. A humpback whale that was closer to the harbour. We stayed with it until we had to leave watching it surface a few times with once a very close encounter.

- Miquel Pons

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00

Report from Elding: It was a beautiful afternoon tour where there was little to no wind so everything reflected off the water, birds, mountains and the clouds. It took us about 30 minutes to encounter our first cetacean, a minke whale that surfaced many times and very easy to photograph. About 30 minutes later a humpback whale was spotted, at first it looked just to be travelling, diving for 5 minutes and then up to the surfaces for a few breathes before doing another 5 min dive. Soon though its surfaces started to be more unpredictable in dive time and constantly changing direction which indicting it probably started to feed. Soon more boats came over to look so we left. Another 30-40 minutes of searching we found a pod of 9 white-beaked dolphins, including an individual we have known since 2008 named Gabriela. So nice to see our celebrities. We ended the tour with another minke whale and a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises. The birdlife was also wonderful and it was fun to have a lot of bird enthusiasts amongst the passengers also.

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00

Report from Þruma RIB II: Conditions similar to this morning, with almost no wind, some long swell that was very pleasant to sail on. We saw puffins in Akurey but much less than in the previous days. The puffins are leaving once again after their breeding season. We found very close to the harbour a minke whale. We actually had a very good sighting with this minke that was coming close to the boat, probably feeding. We continued but had to stop quickly because a pod of 2 harbour porpoises was there surfacing and getting closer and closer of our boat. We actually could see the cute beak of those little cetaceans. We continued and found once again a pod of 8-10 white-beaked dolphins with many calves, maybe the same than this morning. The little ones made a few jumps at some point and we were happy to witness that. Closer to the harbour we found once again a humpback whale that was feeding, the animal came very close to us once sligthly splattering us with its blow. Many arctic tern were there feeding on the food that could escape the mouth of the giant mammal. At one point the humpback rolled a bit on the side and had its pectoral fin in the air, splashing it on the water and continuing feeding just after. We left very happy of all those encounters.

- Miquel Pons

✔ CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING ON SCHEDULE | 19:00

- Estel

Bird Species ID´d today: Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Arctic tern, Arctic skua, Northern Fulmar, Kittiwake, Eider Duck, great-black backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, Black-headed gull, Great Cormorant.

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.