Friday, 22 April 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale 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.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00

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.

Report from Eldey: This morning we had calm seas heading out of Reykjavik. After a little while of searching, we saw the splashes of a small pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins. Followed very shortly by a sighting of a minke whale. We followed this individual for a while, watching it come up for a breath and disappear very quickly. A couple of times it came very close to the boat. Soon it was joined by another individual and we were lucky enough to watch them both for a while. We then left them to feed while we continued with the tour. After only a few minutes we spotted some blows in the distance and as we got closer, we were able to watch 3 humpback whales. Again, one of the individuals came close to our boat once or twice and we got to see their flukes a couple of times. What a great start to Earth Day!

- Emily Erskine

Report from the Ribs: The conditions were much better than anticipated with very calm seas and not much wind. We headed to the area we encountered wildlife yesterday afternoon and very quickly spotted the blows of many humpback whales. There were roughly five in the nearby area that provided great views on a few occasions but we had our patience tested. All the whales seemed to be doing long dives with only a few breaths meaning that spotting and approaching the animals was a little difficult in parts. We decided to stay calm and keep the boat idle, allowing the whales to move around us. This led to a whale approaching the boat, take a breath on our right side, disappear and then resurface on our left for its last breath before a deeper dive.

- Mike Smith 

Report from Eldey: The sky was a bit more clear this afternoon and with the nice light, the calm and chill weather made the tour very pleasant. We went directly to the area where the humpback whales were seen this morning and we quickly crossed 3 pods of harbour porpoises. It felt like it was a good area so we stopped and tried to spot those quick cetaceans. Then we saw a blow of a humpback whale. We approached the area and could see the humpback coming to the surface. After a long dive it came back and we could see it surfacing and fluke diving again. As other boats were coming close we went further trying to spot dolphins that we saw jumping from the distance. We looked and saw the tails of 2 humpback whales! We went there and focused on one, it was Mariupol that we have seen often last year and this season. A pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins joined the party and seemed curious about the whale. They dove together and we did not see the dolphins anymore. It felt like the 2 humpbacks were very active in the beginning and after a while they relaxed and finally joined, swimming in a very synchronised way next to each other. We stayed a bit more and came back to Reykjavik.

- Miquel Pons

Report from the Ribs: The easterly wind increased slightly in strength, creating a bumpier wave that would be felt most when heading home, but first we ventured west to the area we had the whales in the morning. After a thorough search, we received a call from our colleagues of a pair of humpback whales nearby. As we approached we could see their tall blows illuminated in the air from the sunshine that emerged through the cloud break, soon followed by the flukes as they dove deeply. The whales were below for a long time on each dive but whilst waiting we saw many blows in all directions. There were at least 6 individuals in the bay this afternoon. On a couple of occasions we had the pair of humpbacks swim towards the boat, coming very close as they showed their heads, back and ultimately their flukes within 15 metres of our location.

- Mike Smith