Sunday, 24 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 still had wonderfully flat seas and great visibility so were ready to spot some cetaceans. After around 40 minutes sailing into the bay, we had our first sighting - a pod of white-beaked dolphins. They were fairly curious, coming close to the boat a few times. They also jumped out of the water sometimes, really showing how acrobatic these dolphins can be. We then continued with our tour to see what else the bay had to offer. We soon came across a large pod of harbour porpoises that stayed around the boat for a little while swimming alongside us, before disappearing beneath the surface in search of more food. In the distance, we spotted a blow and as we got closer saw the fluke, confirming that it was a humpback whale! We were able to stay with this individual for a while and could see its tail a few times as it went for deep dives. A really great start to the day!

-Emily Erskine

Report from the Ribs: The day started with little wind from the north west, causing a little ripple on the ocean. The temperature felt extremely cold once sailing due to the dense cloud cover preventing any warmth from the sun. We begun the tour seeing 10+ harbour porpoises that moved quickly as we first sighted them and once we started to slow down, they proved to be a fun watch. After a couple of minutes a pod of white-beaked dolphins were spotted in the distance. The dolphins decided to approach our boat, swimming all around at an extremely close distance which was met by gasps from our guests. It became clear that the abundance of dolphins was far greater than first anticipated with over 50 individuals found in total, divided into many smaller pods. Last of all, we were able to find and watch a humpback whale perform four complete surface sequences, breathing 3 or 4 times before arching its back and exposing its fluke on its journey to deeper water.

- Mike Smith

Report from Eldey: The weather hadn't changed from this morning. After nearly 45 minutes of sailing we encountered a minke whale feeding, as we were admiring its beautiful slim shaped body a humpback whale surfaced lunch feeding just in between a flock of hungry seabirds. We saw it feeding twice and then it turned out to be much more relaxed as it was coming to the surface every 7-8 minutes. We also had one brief encounter with a little pod of beautiful chubby harbour porpoises, about 3 in total. We were quite happy about this sighting as they showed up more than usually. We had to turn around to the harbour, seeing yet a super playful pod of about 5 white-beaked dolphins on our way back. Patience is a virtue - that clearly showed in this tour, which ended up being wonderful. We have seen our 4 most common species, BINGO!

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from RIBs: We went out with two of our RIBs today to explore different areas of the bay. Thruma II´s sightings started early in the tour, with a pod of approximately 5 white-beaked dolphins coming up close to us. We stayed with them for some time, but then wanted to sail out further to see what else was in store. We saw about 8 harbour porpoises, one of them even leaping, in an area wiht lots of puffins. Then we decided to join Thruma IV, who had found a humpback whale elsewhere in the bay. This whale was only diving about 4 minutes and then coming up close to us many times and showing the majestic fluke with a beautiful pattern underneath it. Some wonderful moments later, we headed back in the direction of Reykjavík and stopped by Engey to see a large colony of puffins on land and at sea. With a quick sight-seeing detour we then made our way back to the harbour with great memories of unforgettable encounters. 

- Eline van Aalderink