Saturday, 13 August 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 13:00 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 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
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• 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
• 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 sanitiser is advised. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: We set sail with a full boat on a slighty grey day, but were pleased to see the ocean was much calmer than previous days. As we got further into the bay we started seeing minke whales dotted around! Suddenly the sun came out and we you could pretty much choose any direction and see minke whales. It was hard to tell if we were seeing new individuals or the same ones changing directions. Two individuals came quite close to the boat, one at the front and one at the back. Almost as if they wanted to make sure everyone got a good view. In total we saw about 10 minkes! We stayed in this spot for a bit before running out of time and heading back to harbour. Happy faces all around. 

- Melanie Magnan

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed away from Reykjavík on this cold, but very sunny morning. After a while, we got to an area with many flocks of birds, expecting that this area had also lots of food. And there we saw it: a minke whale in the area! This beautiful and big individual was fast, coming closer to the birds, feeding and making a big splash. It was close to us and we could see the beautiful colors on its back. Since the sea conditions were great this morning, we could see many fluke prints on the surface, helping us to track this individual. After a while, it took us to more flocks of birds, scattering them when trying to get some fishes. In fact, it wasn’t alone; there were 2 more minkes in the area! We enjoyed the warm sun on our faces during the trip and on our way back home.

- Cindy Schwenk

Report from Eldey: With a light breeze and a nice sunshine we started our afternoon sail. We navigated south towards the area where we had sightings this morning. After about an hour of sailing, we spotted 2 harbour porpoises, quite close to the boat. We had a brief look at these cetaceans, before they disappeared. Not long after that a minke whale was sighted, this animal just surfaced once before it dove and did not come back up to the surface. We continued onwards and arrived at the spot where we had seen a lot of minke whales this morning. In this area, birds were feeding, and minke whales were everywhere around the boat. Moving slowly fowards we saw at least 10 individuals, most probably feeding, and getting quite close to our vessel. It was minke mania! After some time with the minke whales we heard of a bigger animal in the area... it was a humpback whale! We observed this individual for some time, quite close to the boat at times, and at least 4 or 5 fluke dives. After this amazing encounter, it was time to go back toward the harbour.

- Anna Richter

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the port under beautiful sunny skies and good sea conditions. It took us some time to find the animals but then as we found them we got all of them at once! Suddenly we were surrounded by tens and tens of minke whales with the occasional humpback whale blow in between. We estimated that we saw at least 3 different humpback individuals and more than 10 minke whales in the area. It was fabulous! We saw some minkes from very close and also a humpback whale fluke up in the distance. What an amazing day!

- Milla the Caterpillar

Report from Hafsúlan: just    P E R F E C T    weather today, I was glad I could be at sea!! 1 meter waves but with a very long period, which cuddled us while sailing. The sky was somewhat cloudy, but the low sun created beautiful light effects with them. And, no rain! While sailing and admiring the volcano we started our sightings with a very relaxed minke whale, which was just circling our boat, possibly taking a snooze. After leaving this one at it, we spotted a lot of splashed in the distance, which prompted us to sail there and check out the action. We soon found a pod of very active white beaked dolphins, about 12 of them, including a juvenile and a calf. These were taking a lot of leaps, jumping out of the water, rushing to us to check us out, being very silly overall. We had a blast! After this sighting, we adventured more into the bay, finding a spot where three minke whales were hanging out together with a lot of puffins, razorbills, northern gannets, and sooty shearwaters. There were just chilling in the area, possibly digesting the whole lotta food they've been eating, judging by the number of birds that were around - and were chilling, too. Possibly they were all with a full tummy and an after-meal coma. On the way back we saw a few more minkes, but the last one deserves a memorable mention: popping out all of a sudden just out of the islands in front of Reykjavík's harbor (Engey and Akurey) it was very relaxed, with a regular breathing pattern and staying close to the surface, which meant that it was sleeping. At the same time, true to their name, we sighted a bit more to the distance some harbor porpoises, about five of them. Marvelous trip with a marvelous weather, with 7 minkes sighted!

-Francesco Golin

Atlantic puffin, eider duck, black guillemot, herring gull, black-legged kittiwake, Arctic skua, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, Manx shearwater, northern gannet, cormorant, Pomerine skua