Monday, 15 August 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 15:00, 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 15:00
• 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: Despite the bitter wind, the sun was warm and the seas were welcoming; a good day for whale watching. Soon after leaving port we heard reports of a possible sighting and began heading in that direction, encountering a couple of minke whales on the way. We had our hearts set on something bigger however and about 1 hour into the trip we found them, 2 massive humpback whales showing us their powerful blows before rearing their backs out of the water for a dive. We committed to waiting for them to surface again excitedly and soon after one did, right underneath diving northern gannets. The giants began taking turns at surfacing and diving for food, ensuring we wouldn´t have to wait for long to see them again, and frequently lifted those beautiful tail flukes out into the air for us. However as more whale watching boats showed up we chose to then leave these animals alone as we did not want to crowd them, instead travelling into the middle of the bay. This proved to be a good idea however as we were soon travelling alongside 2 minke whales, providing us with a stark contrast between the slow massive humpbacks and the streamlined nimble minkes, allowing us to see the range of these animals. We were running out of time however and had to return to port, however we saw many minke whales popping up in the distance and we even got to see 2 harbour porpoises zooming past us, quickly disappearing into the waves.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Hafsulan: Amazing 10am tour today, the bay is still full of life and very nice sea conditions which was easier to spot the animals. As soon as we left the harbour, we headed directly to the area where we heard there was plenty of animals. And we have not been disappointed ! 2 humpbacks whales were our first animals that we saw. There were quite apart from each other so we stayed mostly with one of them. The individual was probably looking for food as it was taking a lot of deep dives by showing its beautiful fluke. We started to see other species around 6 minke whales were also in the area, probably looking for food as well. Some of them came very close to our boat. We then focused a bit more on the humpback by following the individual a little bit. After taking some deep dives, the individual was more and more present at the surface and we managed to get closer to it. As we were about to leave, the humpback suddenly breached unexpectadly and showed all its body out of the water which looked so majestic with the pectoral fins in the air!! We stayed a bit longer, it did not breach again but was very curious and came close to us and stayed often at the surface. We saw the blow of the other humpback coming closer to the other one. And it was after this beautiful sighting that we headed back to Reykjavik

- Enorha Guimard

Report from Eldey: Incredible visibility this afternoon and sunshine. Almost no wind and no swell, meant perfect conditions. We could see all the way to Snæfellsjökull volcano impressive 95 km away. The tour had just started when we spotted a huge flock of various species of birds far out on the bay and there we found our first out of probably between 25-30 minke whales! The minkes seemed to be feeding in the same area. We were able to see the white belly of one of them while it came to the surface with its opened massive jaw, engulfing and filtering the sea water out through its baleen plates. They even surfaced at the same time a few times only about 100 meters away from us, and as we waited patiently, we had one of them surfacing only about 5 meters away from our boat. It was amazing to see so many minkes together as they are usually solitary animals. However, it may have been the food bringing them in the same area. And we got so many photos today! We can see their elegant white patches on its flippers in some of them. We also had a fast sighting of 2-3 harbour porpoises and 4-5 white-beaked dolphins but today the superstars of the show were the minke whales, I have never seen so many minke whales in the same tour, we can call it the minke tour! We sailed back with the stunning scenery around us, a very nice summer day out at sea!

- Estel Sanchez

Report from Hafsúlan: marvelous day at sea, today, with a warm sun that lasted the entire trip and counterbalanced the cold of the northerly wind. While sailing to the spot where in the morning a few humpback whales were seen we encountered 6 minke whales, which were either travelling, feeding or resting, and some of them passed very close to our ship. Reached the morning spot we found a humpback whale, which was taking dives frequently. In the same area we found a couple of humpbacks that were sticking together, resting at the surface for then going to deep dives. We followed those, and after a dive these two appeared right in front of our ship, almost holding fins. We stayed in the area for a bit, following these lovely and relaxed whales: they really seemed comfortable around our ship. After a while our time was up, but on the way back we spotted even more whales: two humpbacks and 7 minke whales! What a day!

-Francesco Golin

Report from Eldey: we sailed out with a clean, blue sky and a beautiful sunlight on our faces, ready to see some whales on this beautiful evening. Around 40 minutes into the trip, we saw a blow in the distance, but before getting to this one, a minke whale appeared in the area, although it was a bit hard to track it. We were coming closer and closer to the blow that we've seen earlier and we could see the fluke of a humpback whale, right in front of us! In fact it wasn't the only humpie in the area: we had at least 4 humpbacks around, at different distances. Surrounding us, we could see many blows in different directions, and we realised we were in a very good spot! One of the humpbacks breached twice in the distance and we even saw more splashes on the horizon. Another minke popped up, but to complete the show, we came across pod of white-beaked dolphins. They started a bit shy but as we got closer so did they and were swimming all around us. We unfortunately ran out of time so started heading back to harbour. As we did, we saw another humpback whale, and then another in the distance! We got two more fluke-dives as a goodbye.

- Anna Richter

Northern fulmer, northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, Manx shearwater, sooty shearwater, black guillemot, Arctic tern, herring gull, black legged kittiwake, lesser and greater black backed gull, Arctic skua, common eiders, European cormorant, pomerine skua