Saturday, 23 July 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 14:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, and 17:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

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 sanitizer is advised. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: The day started with very calm seas and a bit of a fresh breeze and a lot of good mood. After sailing some time out into the bay we encountered our first 3-4 minke whales! We stayed there for a while but then headed off to look at some more minke whales feeding in a big flock of birds. There we stayed a long time and admired many minkes having a lunch break, lunge feeding and just enjoying some fish. The cherry on top of it all was a humpback whale we saw later on, fluking up multiple times and diving into the depths. What a tour, everyone left the ship smiling.

- Cindy Schwenk

Report from Hafsúlan: Today we started the tour with perfect sea conditions: no swell, no wind and grey skies that vanished allowing us to enjoy some sunbathing moments as the tour progressed. After 20 minutes sailing we saw a spout in the distance. It was a solitary humpback whale which we were able to identify as Mariupol! The animal seemed to be very curious. We could see it spy-hopping twice, and creating bubbles! It looked as it was trying to comunicate with us. It was swimming very peacefully and eventually approaching us and checking our boat. We said good-bye to this whale and continued our journey east. Not too long did it pass when we saw several black backs on the horizon. Soon enough we were in the midst of 5 or 6 minke whales diving and surfacing around the  boat. We even had a few very special moments where the whales were 20 m or less from the boat, which gave us the chance to observe their beauty and slender body. Some of the passengers that were on the bow were very lucky too see 2 whales simultaneously surfacing! What a fantastic tour on an international Whale and Dolphin day. :)

- Estel Sanchez 

Report from Eldey: After a daring maneuver in the harbour to pick up another crew member, we left the harbour with the sun having decided to start shining on us. After following the birds out to sea we saw a blow on the horizon and began to approach. As we approached it surfaced again under a bunch of birds and we could see it was a humpback whale! Not long after taking another dive for food, we also saw 2 minke whales in front of us, feeding on the same food all those birds were eating, the small sand eels. The humpback whale surfaced again in front of us and we followed, realising all the birds were doing the same; a see of birds flew low on the water after the humpback whale, using it as a marker for the food and taking advantage of the disruption this whale caused when feeding to feed themselves. After following the humpback for a few more dives, raising its tail fluke high out of the air, we decided to leave it alone and try to see what else we could find in the bay. We found some more minke whales under another flock of birds, feeding below the surface, but eventually we did have to turn around and come home.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: The wind had picked up a bit from the previous tours today but that did not stop us from having a great whale adventure. Our first sighting was that of two shy harbour porpoises that passed by our boat very quickly and quietly. Then we encountered a minke whale in our path and kept observing this one for some time. After that we saw a humpback whales blow in the distance and while heading towards it and seing it deep dive we saw splashes in the distance. A breaching minke! This individual jumped out of the water a couple of times and then disappeared into the vast ocean. While waiting for the humpback to surface again we saw another minke breach in the distance again.What anamazing day already! Then finally the humpback came up and we got to admire it from closer in the sunshine and saw its fluke as it deep dived. While heading back we again encountered a third breaching minke whale and a playful humpback that slapped its tail and pectoral fins and also breached unnoticed behind our boat. It also spy hopped once to see what was going on above the surface and probably saw all of our smiling faces.

- Cindy Schwenk

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