Saturday, 30 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 sanitizer is advised. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: beautiful day at sea today, with a bright and warm sun and only a few clouds covering the sky. Therefore the day was quite warm, despite the cold northerly wind that accompanied us in these days persisted. The waves were tall enough (~0.6 m) to make the sail a bit rocky; still it looked like everyone felt comfortable, except during ship maneuvers. It took us some time to find some minke whales, 4 of them, which were intent on feeding going down often for deep dives. Amidst them, a humpback whale made its appearance, to exploit too all the food in the
area. At first it was fluke-diving very frequently, then it started to feed closer to the surface, making bubble trails and doing feeding lounges. With one of them it came straight out of the water with its entire head! After this humpback, we scouted the area looking for other whales; we got to see another minke, the last sighting of this beautiful trip.

-Melanie Magnan

Report from Eldey: After a safety speech, warning among other things about the possibility of puffins devouring you if you would happen to fall over board, we started our sail observing those pretty (but ferocious) sea birds. The sun was with us, meaning the cloud coverage was only of 80 percent, which is considered sunny for icelandic standards. After some time we got to observe 3 minke whales in an area where a few flocks of bird were feeding. We saw them surfacing for some time more or less close to the vessel before we decided to head out to explore further the area. We then saw a pod of white beaked dolphins, about 5 of them. Even though they were happily jumping at first they quickly changed behavior and decided to avoid the vessels. To respect those animals and our code of conduct we decided to leave the area as we heard about a possible whale in the area on our way back to Reykjavik. We noticed the blow of a humpback whale 1 or 2 times before it went down for a deep dive and never came back up again. This is nature, the whale did not want to see us, left the area, and it is perfectly fine. We then made our way back to the harbour under a really bright sun (meaning barely a 50 percent cloud cover).

- Francesco aka "the tall Cod"

Report from Háfsulan: we had a very active and sunny morning with our favorite animals. Even though in the beginning the sea was a bit choppy, we had a lot of fun spotting these whales. Our first encounter was with a humpback whale, going for deep dives and staying about 8 minutes underwater. As we also had other boats coming to the area, we decided to go to a different direction, trying to spot something else. On the way, going further away to an area full of birds, we saw at least 3 minke whales, always close to the flock of birds. They are very trick to track, but as they were so many, we could see them several times in different spots. In the same area, we’ve found another humpback, and this one was feeding. Quite energetic, this whale was lunge feeding several times, allowing us to have a good look at how it was taking a large amount of water, expanding its body. After this amazing sighting, we head back home really satisfied, enjoying the sun and the beautiful landscape of Faxaflói Bay.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsulán: We left the harbour under a sunny sky with amazing views on the Esja. The sea was a bit more choppy than this morning with wind coming from north west. We went in the rich area where we saw the whales this morning and saw a lot of birds. Big flocks of seagulls, skuas and puffins very active feeding on sand-eels, forming big black patches under the surface. With such a rich abundance we started seeing a humpback whale lunge feeding, taking immense gulps of water and prey, sometimes only a few meters from the boats. Really spectacular. The humpback was actually Liney, we recognized the orca rakes on her dorsal fin. We stayed a while and then left to observe a minke whale that was feeding non-far. We saw probably 5-6 different minke whales during the tour. They were also lunge-feeding and we often could see the white belly and throat of the minke through the water while it was eating. So incredible to see those beautiful whales often shy coming close of the boat, lunge-feeding out of the water with their pointy rostrum, while being in the sun surrounded by hundred of active feeding birds chasing each other or fishing. It was time to head back home. During the way we quickly saw 4-5 white-beaked dolphins also feeding. They were not in a social mood so we left and came back under a warming sun.

- Miquel Pons

Northern Gannet, black-legged kittiwake, common guillemot, black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, Arctic skua, Manx shearwater, razorbill, greater and lesser black-backed gull, Arctic tern, herring gull, eider duck

Report from Elding: with a very choppy sea, we sailed towards the same area we saw whales earlier in this day, hoping that they would still be there. After more than one hour of tour, we finally saw it: a blow of a humpback whale a bit far from us. It was a bit hard to spot the first one because of the sea conditions, but after the first, we didn't miss a thing. This one was Liney, a humpback that we've been seeing quite often this summer. In the same area, we saw many flocks of birds and at least 3 minke whales, splashing around, very fast to get the fishes right under the birds. One of them was coming very close to the boat and we could see its coloration brighten by the sunlight. Liney was quite fast and sometimes hard to track. As a very energetic humpback that we know, it started to throw its tail a few times, making a huge splash. In the meantime, we smelled the breathing of one of the minkes that was around, very intense and interesting. On the way back home, we could enjoy the beautiful sunset late in the night, watching the sun going behind Snæfellsjökull, that was very visible from such a long distance.

- Milla Brandão