Tuesday, 5July 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, and 16:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 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 | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 11:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00

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: Very good sea conditions when we went out at sea for the tour this morning. Very good motivated and curious passengers about wildlife in the bay. When we arrive in the hotspot area with a lot of birds everywhere, we spotted 1 minke whale, very elusive but came up 2 or 3 times at the surface. We kept following our route and sighted other 2 minke whales around the same area, feeding and came very close to our boat. We stayed few minutes with them and started to head back to Reykjavik. On the way, we spotted another 1 minke whale coming close to our boat as well.

- Enorha Guimard

Report from Elding: Coffee´d up and ready to find some whales, we set off following the southern boundary of Faxafloi bay. Soon a sudden minke whale appeared in front of us before disappearing beneath the waves again. Knowing minke whales are very shy I was hesitant to wait for it to come up again, however this particular individual was in a very lazy mood and resurfaced in almost the exact same spot; very uncharacteristic of minke whales. We were treated to a lazy minke whale, spending lots of time resting at the surface, once coming right up to the boat - within 20m! After spending some time with this whale we decided to leave it alone and look for something else, and rather quickly we found some white beaked dolphins playing with some other boats. About 10 of them were full leaping, breaching and bowriding both our vessel and the smaller rib. However, they soon tired and resorted to resting behaviours nearby, as a minke whale appeared behind us at the same time. Deciding to leave these animals alone we began to make our way back to port while surrounded by various birds and a 3rd minke whale. We had some lazy animals who were quite happy to have us there today.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: On our second trip on this day we went straight for the area were we had so many encounters in the morning. It didn't take long until we encountered a big group of white-beaked dolphins, 7-9 animals with at least one calf that were milling, traveling and leaping out of the water, a spectacle that was very nice to watch. After a while with the dolphins we moved further out looking for other cetaceans. It took us a short while until our next sighting with a minke whale. In total we saw 9 minke whales on the tour. Inbetween we had some very nice encounters with 2 pods of 4-5 harbour porpoises each coming up behind the boat or on the left side. Everybody seemed to enjoy the ride back to Reykjavik after our close encounters with the cetaceans on this trip.

- Estel Sanchez

Report from Elding: very comfortable sail this afternoon, with barely any waves and no rain. The air was quite warm despite the overcast clouds that blocked the sun rays. It took us some time to find a couple of minke whales, which seemed to be quite relaxed, staying on the water surface for quite some time between deeper dives. These didn't last too long, which allowed us to come quite close and observe them well. After the minke whales, we stopped for a pod of white beaked dolphins, ~15 individuals strong, which were extremely active. They were riding the waves generated by the ship, taking leaps and jumping out of the water. It was an incredible sight to see them so energetic! We ended the trip with the sighting of an humpback whale from far away, and a few more minkes catching breath at the surface.

-Francesco Golin

Report from Eldey: Despite the rain and some limited visibility, the sea amazingly flat; so I was confident that we would find some animals. Before I had even finished my speech at the start of the trip 2 harbour porpoises passed by our left hand side on the way to Reykjavik, and shortly after our first minke whale on our right. After heading further out we found another minke that looked a little more relaxed than the first, so we decided to hang around a little bit. After a few surfaces and one approach however the animal decided to turn away and we moved on. Very soon after we found one of the weirded dolphin encounters I´ve had since working here at Elding, A group of 4 white beaked dolphins, travelling together, before 1 split off and decided to travel perpendicular to the others after coming right up next to our boat. Then another decided to split off as well and head off in the opposite direction. Leaving this weird moment behind us we soon found a massive group of birds feeding on fish at the surface, and below them 4 minke whales. We were lucky to witness multiple feeding techniques such as lunge feeding, bubble nets and the more traditional suction feeding all at the surface of the water, as birds swooped down to pick off the straggling fish. However a cruise ship soon passed and scared the minke whales away. Deciding to look for more animals further out into the bay we discovered a pod of 10 sleeping white beaked dolphins, with 2 juveniles present. Soon after our arrival they woke up and became active, leaping out of the water for us swimming right under our boat multiple times. Sadly due to time constraints we had to leave these dolphins early, but on the way back we did find another minke and 3 more harbour porpoise for a grand total of: 2 pods of harbour porpoise comnsisting of 2 and 3 animals each, 2 pods of white beaked dolphins with 4 and 10 individuals, and at least 7 minke whales with most likely more in the distance.

- Liam van Walsum

Common guillemot, razorbill, Atlantic puffin, Arctic tern, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, greater black-backed gull, northern fulmar, northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, Icelandic gull, Arctic skua, black guillemot, common eider, glaucous gull.