Thursday, 3 February 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 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.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

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: In February we start our 9am tours, unfortunately the last two days the 9am has been cancelled due to swell in the bay but this morning we were able to venture out to see what the wildlife is doing in the morning. It was dark to start the morning but interesting to see the northern lights at 8am this morning as we were preparing the vessel for the tour. The the morning got bright early as we has clear skies and the sun rose above the horizon at about 10:15am, before and during the sun rise the skies filled with beautiful pastel colours.
It was about 1 hour and 20minutes into the tour when saw a fishing boat setting it’s nets and many seabirds flying around, a very promising area and we were right. As soon as I told the passengers that we had reached a good area 3 white-beaked dolphins suddenly surfers a few meters from the front of the boat. Soon more dolphins came close and we could see splashes in the distance. In total we maybe saw about 15 dolphins, but stayed close to about 6 of them for the majority of the time. They stayed very close, just meters from the vessel. Sometimes to left, then to the right and then bow riding the front. After about 20 minutes they dove and disappeared and we continued our search for other species. Unfortunately no whales where seen this morning but it was a beautiful, albeit freezing morning with snow-capped mountains, an abundance and diversity of seabirds and of course very fun and interactive white-beaked dolphins.

- Megan Whittaker

Report from Eldey: Weather today did not change much from the morning tour, despite some shallow swell, weather was holding up with a lot of sunshine throughout the whole tour. While we did enjoy the sun and fantastic snowy views of the landscapes to our west and east, northern fulmars were sailing with us through the bay. With no limitiations on where to go, our course was simply into the bay and out to the north. Along the way, we were surprised by a grey seal sticking it's head out of the water! Very cute and curious it looked at our boat shortly before dissappearing. Once further out, everything looked very promising with plenty of bird activity around indicating food in the water. However, whales and dolphins were not sighted on this tour. Concluding, we offered everyone a complimentary ticket to come on another trip with us, wether on the next day or in 2 years time, absolutely free of charge and definitely encouraged all our passengers to go for another try, as seeing our marine mammals is absolutely worth it.

- Estel Sanchez Cami
 

Common guillemot, european shag, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, red throated diver, great northern diver, eider duck.