Wednesday, 6 July 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 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 20:30 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

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: Today the conditions were perfect for a whale watching tour. Barely a wave could be seen on the horizon, and the sun came out as we started to sail out of the harbor. After about an hour of sailing we spotted our first minke whale from a distance. When we arrived in the area we could see that individual minke whale surfacing a few times quite close to our boat, including possibly lunge feeding behavior. During this sighting we noticed some splashes in the distance. We then headed to this area and got to observe a pod of 6 to 10 white beaked dolphins, they even decided at some point to bow ride, which gave us amazing views on these beautiful animals. After a nice sighting and a few more boats arrived we decided to leave the area, and venture out to try to see if we could find any other animals. We then spotted our third species, harbour porpoises, probably only 2 of them passing us by very fast. And right at this moment of the sighting a few other minke whales, probably 2 or 3, started appearing in the horizon. We had a good sighting of another minke whale and then started our way back toward Reykjavik surrounded by a nice diversity of sea birds, and many more (probably around 10 in total) minke whales.

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Elding: We went out in the calm bay and quickly found a minke whale. It was a small individual that was surfacing with its pointy rostrum out of the water. The animal was easy to observe and coming close to the boat so we stayed a bit with it. We were still close to the harbour so we decided to get a bit further away to try to see other species. We crossed a second minke whale that was harder to follow. There would be in total 4-5 minke whales during this tour. Then we had a very nice sighting of a humpback whale calmly surfacing and showing us its majestic fluke. We stayed a bit with it and after another deep dive we decided to leave it and to check a group of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins that was close by. We got closer and could have a few good looks at them but they were not really in the mood. The pod was milling, swimming close to each other and changing direction quite often. We left them and during the way back found another humpback whale! When it showed its tail we recognized Mariupol, a humpback that we have seen many times. We stayed until we were really out of time and came back to the harbour.

- Miquel Pons 

Report from Elding: Beautiful weather accompanied the most incredible tour this afternoon, we saw all four of our regular species and many individuals performed unique behaviours. The tour started with minke whales, and lots of them - there were probably three or more in the same area, and some of them were coming very close to us and one even showed the side of its fluke. Next, we spotted the humpback whale Mariupol who approached our boat and surfaced very frequently. When more boats arrived we decided to search for other animals. It didn´t take us more than a few minutes before we stumbled upon more minke whales, 2-3 harbour porpoises and eventually another humpback whale. One of the minke whales treated us to an unforgettable show while it had its belly up and lifted the pectoral fin out of the water. A bit later, the humpback whale (Homer Simpson) performed a peduncle throw, and showed us his fluke a few times before we said goodbye. The tour, however, was far from over because we still got to enjoy 6-10 leaping white-beaked dolphins from up close and we saw the blow of another humpback whale. It was amazing to have seen such a range of species and variability in their individual behaviour, showing us the incredible diversity that exists in nature in just a three hour tour! 

- Mélanie Magnan

Report from Elding: We set off on a calm ocean with a sunny skies. As this is Iceland the weather turned grey quickly but we managed to avoid the rain for the whole journey. Everyone was in good spirits and we quickly found a humpback whale - Homer Simpson to be exact. Homer was very relaxed and went for fairly long dives so after seeing the fluke dive we decided to head onwards. Shortly after we spotted a minke whale! It was a nice sighting as this individual was very relaxed. Minke whales are incredibly quick and are often hard to track. We watched it for a few minutes before realising it was actually two! Then, in the distance a breaching minke whale! It seemed they were trying to outcompete each other for our attention. It is very rare to see minke's breach so even our captain was in awe. Once we caught up to it, it had calmed down but we still saw it a few times before moving on. We then found another humpback, we watched from afar but eventually it came very close to the boat. What a wonderful whale filled journey.

- Anna Richter

Northern fulmar, northern gannet, razorbill, common guillemot, black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, greater black-backed gull, black-legged gull, eider duck, great skua, Arctic tern