Monday, 28 November 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. 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 | 13:00

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.  

Report from Eldey:  A stunning morning to be sailing out in the bay of Faxaflói, with very little wind and almost a cloudless sky the sun rise was breathtaking. Once in the productive areas it was bright enough to scan the waters for black backs, blows and splashes and soon that what we saw. Very quickly we saw the black back of a minke whale, then suddenly another. Again and again they surfaced and sometimes just 10-15 meters from the boat. More  minkes started to appear and we saw at least 3 maybe more in this area as we were also seeing more in the distance. After a very nice and easy encounter with them we headed further offshore and soon saw a big bushy blow, we saw it 4-5 times but in the distance and once we saw the arch of the back we waited along time but never saw it again. We soon saw a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins that were also great, bow-riding and popping up very close by. Time was slowly running out and after 20 mins with the dolphins we headed home. On the way though a humpback whale surfaced 2-3 times, arched and brought up the fluke and dove. We waited for about 7 mins to see it again about 200m away. We tried to get closer but once about 100m it did its last surface and brought up the fluke once more.
Three species this morning and beautiful conditions.

- Megan Whittaker

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we had stunning blue skies, a bit of swell and wind in Faxafloi. The wind woke us up after lunch and we were ready for adventure. After just under an hour of sailing we saw a big blow in the distance. We kept our eyes on it and tried to get a closer look. Even before we could tell it was a humpback whale! This individual was one of the new ones we saw last week, coming up a few times and always showing us its fluke! At one point it came extremely close to the boat so we could hear and feel the blow. Suddenly it changed its behaviour and was much trickier to find and follow. We also saw 3 minke whales in the same area. As it always does, time ran out and we headed back to harbour seeing potentially another humpback whale and minke whale on the way home. It was hard to figure out if it was the same humpback as we did not get a clear view of the fluke. So much suspense to process the photos and find out!

- Anna Richter

Common guillemot, European shag, Great cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, black-headed gulls, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, eider duck, long-tailed ducks, little auk.