Join today's tours:
This is the original whale watching tour from Reykjavík! Join our highly enthusiastic and experienced team in the search for whales, dolphins and birds of Faxaflói bay! Most common wildlife encountered are humpbacks, minkes, dolphins and porpoises.
An exhilarating premium tour starting from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík, with daily departures from 1 Apr - 31 Oct. A personal, small group tour with only 12 person per boat, a specially trained wildlife guide and a certified RIB boat captain.
Friday, 17 June 2022
Today we will be operating on our lovely vessels Eldey and Elding for the 10:00, 13:00 and 14:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land. If you are prone to seasickness, please consult with our team prior to boarding.
- CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
- PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
- CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
- CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
Report from Eldey: despite the fact that part of our journey in this lovely morning was rainy, we were surprised by an orca in the bay! It was a solitary male, showing us its massive dorsal fin and letting us stay for a while to see this uncommon encounter in Reykjavik area. This one was quite fast and seemed like it was diving in order to search for food. After enjoying its presence for a few more minutes, we decided to give it some space and look for more species. Not too far from there, we spotted not only one, but 2 humpback whales! These ones were quite curious about our boat, diving underneath us and spy-hopping us. One of the whales was identified by our researchers as Neila, an individual that we have seen around before. Another blow was spotted in the distance, but we decided to focus on Neila and its friend, that were extremely close to us, very curious and playful. It was definitely a very happy morning for our passengers and for us. The rain wasn't a problem, thanks to these amazing encounters.
- Milla Brandao
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
Report from Elding: We left the harbour with a promise of some rough weather but good whale sightings from previous tours. About half an hour in we briefly saw a minke whale surface very close to the boat but due to the rough weather it was difficult to follow it and we decided to continue and look for some other whales. After a little wait we saw our first humpback whale blow in the distance and do a couple of deep dives. Unfortunately this whale did not show us its fluke but stayed around for some time. After that we set off to another humpback whale that was doing amazing pectoral fin slaps and a funny side dive. After following this whale for a while we got a tip of a breaching minke whale near another of our boats. We set off to this whale and saw it breach from a distance but as we got closer it stoped its show. On our way back we decided to stop by the puffin island Engey to look at some of these cute little fellows and then headed back home with 2 humpbacks and 1 breaching minke on our minds.
- Cindy Schwenk
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
Report from Eldey: We set off into strong winds and rough sees but excited to see what this afternoon would hold as the morning tour was so eventful! After a bit of sailing we found a humpback whale! It was very close to us and right in-front of our boat but we were quickly distracted by a breaching minke whale! It would not stop and gave us a special Icelandic independence day show! After it stopped, we went further out to find more cetaceans but clearly no one wanted to compete with the minke whale as we didnt find anymore. We slowly made our way back to harbour now in the sunshine!
- Anna Richter
Whales encountered today:
Currently, we know of 85 different species of Whales, dolphins and Porpoises collectively called cetaceans. These range from the largest animal that has ever lived on our planet the Blue Whale to the smallest the Hectors dolphin. They are found in every one of our oceans and even some of our rivers. Anyone that has been whale watching and seen these magnificent mammals up close can tell you that it is an experience never forgotten and a feeling of amazement and happiness not quite understood.
This is one of the Elding crew's favourite species so excitement is especially high when we get to see these amazing animals. Occasionally they venture into Faxaflói Bay but chances of seeing them are greater when we sail from other harbours. They are the largest of the dolphins and the male dorsal fin can get up to 1.8m high and very triangular whereas the females dorsals are curved.
The Humpback Whale is quite spectacular undergoing the longest migration of any mammal (5176miles/8334km one way), attracting females by singing to them and of course their energetic nature. On many occasions humpbacks have been seen breaching, tail slapping, fin slapping, blowing bubbles and spy hopping just to mention a few. The humpback is also one of the larger whales we encounter
The Minke Whale is the most common whale around Iceland and actually the world thus it is one of the main species we encounter on our whale watching tours. It is one of few species that don’t mind coming to shallower waters like here in Faxaflói Bay to feed on the abundant food available to them.
Birds encountered during today´s tours include:
Black-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar, herring gull, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, atlantic puffin
Request photos from your tour:
Our guides do their very best to take photos on our Classic Whale Watching tours to share with our passengers. Please email elding@elding.is to see if any photos were taken on your tour.