Saturday, 31 December 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 13:00 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 | 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 sanitiser is advised.  

Report from Hafsulan: It's under viking condition that we went out today. The wind and the snow where actually not that strong in the start of the tour but slowly increased during the tour. It was an interesting experience to be out this afternoon, last whale watching tour of the year. We quickly crossed a few northern gannets that we did not see in a while. They were flying and scanning the area, probably searching some fish to catch. We went a bit further a could find a humpback whale. We saw the blow of the whale a few times and then the back arching out of the water when it decided to go for a dive. With the poor visibility we struggled to find it again. We moved a bit around trying to see if there was fish under our vessel and using it as a good sign of the whale coming back in the area. The snow stopped for a bit and we could spot the humpback whale once again, coming to the surface several times and leaving with a very high fluke dive, smoothly lifting its tail out of the water. After that moment of magic, the snow started stronger than ever and we decided to get closer to land, coming back to the harbour. Happy new year!

- Miquel Pons

Report from Eldey: We left the harbour into a very foggy bay. It was also windy making it a cold tour. As we sailed around the bay it started to snow too! This was very exciting as it isn't something we always get to experience on our tours. These conditions carried on and then a couple of blows appeared in front of us from a humpback whale. We then lost the whale for a few minutes unable to spot it given the conditions. But then we found it again straight in front of us close to some other boats. We got a bit closer to it and got to see a beautiful fluke dive. This happens when the whales go down for deeper dives. The snow and wind picked up now too. It was quite the experience. It became quite difficult to spot anything now so we headed back to the harbour. As we didn't get a good look at the humpback whale we offered all passengers on board Eldey complimentary tickets. Passengers did remark at what a great experience it was still by getting to witness this Icelandic winter with a nice glimpse of a whale.

- Rob Hyman

Common guillemot, black guillemot, European shag, Great cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, eider duck, northern gannet.