Wednesday, 8 September 2021

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale Watching tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land.

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.

Report from Eldey: It was a south-westerly wind that greeted us this morning as we headed out for our morning tour. It wasn't too strong (about 6 m/s), so it did not bother us. The first sign we saw of a cetacean was a blow from a humpback whale, that was about 1 km away. We approached it and watched it go down for a few very nice dives, raising its fluke high up in the air. In the distance, we saw about 3-4 white-beaked dolphins, jumping high up out of the water, displaying their incredible acrobatic ability. On the way back, we saw huge splashes, likely from a humpback whale breaching. As we got closer, it was tail-slapping quite a lot, but seized its activity before we were close enough for our liking, and went for a long deep dive. We then unfortunately had to go back to harbour, without seeing it surface again.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

Report from Þruma II : The sea was a bit more choppy than expected so the way out was bumpy. The way back was very smooth, surfing on the waves. Wind from south west was quite cold but under our overalls we were fine. It was very cloudy and we had a few minutes of rain. We directly went in an area were whale watching boats were with a humpback whale. They left when we arrived so it was only us and another rib boat with the animal. It came very close to our boat so we could have a close sight on this beautiful creature. We stopped the engines and just chill there with the whale for a while. The animal was calm and just relaxing, without going in deep dives, just disappearing for 2-3 minutes before surfacing again always nearby. We left to try to find something else and if we found a pod of white beaked dolphins, they were very elusive so we lost them quickly. We patrol in an area were we heard on the radio that a humpback whale was seen previously but we could not find anything. We came back to Reykjavik and had fun with the waves.

- Miquel Pons

Report from Eldey: The same direction was on the wind as in the morning (SW), but it had gotten quite a lot stronger, and was coupled with rain at times. We went to similar areas as we did in the morning, but it took us a long time to find our first whale. We then saw the blow from a humpback whale quite far away, and it was blowing very frequently. As we got closer, we realised that there was another humpback whale right next to it! We observed them synchronously surface, tail-dive and lift their heads up. One of them breached twice in quick succession, which was magnificent to see, especially as it was so close to the other one that was casually surfacing to breath! After having observed them for a long time, we had to go back as we were quite far out and the ocean was starting to get difficult for the boat.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

Report from Þruma: The sea conditions took a turn for the worse as the wind strength increased and changed direction. The south westerly wind and swell created a very bumpy ride on the way out. We tried our best to fulfill the tour but ultimately decided it was best to abandon it due to the adverse conditions. Guests were offered a full refund or to have their trip rescheduled.

- Mike Smith