Thursday, 18 May 2023

Thursday 18 May 2023

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and13:00 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
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00

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.  

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 0900

Report from Eldey: We set sail in what we expected to be rough seas but in the end they weren't too bad with almost everybody feeling good for the whole tour. The wind was behind us as headed out into the bay. The further out we got the more birds we could see many of whom looked like they were feeding. In the middle of all this we began to see blows. These blows belonged to humpback whales. In total we got a close look at 5 individuals, we had 2 pairs within this. Elsewhere in the area there was up to 5 more. Some of these were creating big splashes in the distance too. Within the ones closer to us unfortunately one had some fresh scars from entanglement. This gave us an opportunity to discuss the threats marine animals face from fishing and what we can do to help. Many of these humpbacks were happily lunge feeding around us. 1 of them rolled a little bit too showing us it's amazing white pectoral fins. We also saw 3 minke whales at this cetacean party. We got a very good look at 2 of them as they swam across the front of our boat. Then we headed home into the wind full of happiness after a great tour. 

- Rob Hyman

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 1300

Report from Eldey: We set sail towards the horizon with some wind and less white caps than the previous tour. We had pretty good sightings in the morning with a lot of whales and that encouraged us to find even more! After about half an hour we started to see more and more sea birds on the water, a really good sign for people that want to see whales. And there it was, our first blow of the afternoon, 1 humpback whale that was very shy when we came close to it. So, after two fluke dives we decided to check another two blows that we saw a bit further away. It was confirmed, another 2 humpback whales with another one popping up on their side! What a surprise! We also could see that one of them was smaller and so it was a young humpback whale, fascinating! It didn´t stop there, we had a glimpse of a very elusive minke whale swimming in front of one humpback. We were very lucky and we decided to scan other areas that we suspected had more whales. After twenty minutes of search, we could see lots of birds feeding on the surface of the water but no whale in sight. The weather turned to the worst, wind rain, fog and wind. The captain said it was time to go and so we went. A very good day in the bay!

- Pedro Teixeira

Bird species encountered today include:

Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, northern fulmar, Arctic tern, common guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill, black legged kittiwake, common gull, Arctic skua, great black backed gull, lesser black backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, Icelandic gull and eider duck.

Whales encountered today include:

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The Humpback Whale is quite spectacular undergoing the longest migration of any mammal (5176miles/8334km one way), attracting females by singing to them and of course their energetic nature. On many occasions humpbacks have been seen breaching, tail slapping, fin slapping, blowing bubbles and spy hopping just to mention a few. The humpback is also one of the larger whales we encounter

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minke whale illustration

The Minke Whale is the most common whale around Iceland and actually the world thus it is one of the main species we encounter on our whale watching tours. It is one of few species that don’t mind coming to shallower waters like here in Faxaflói Bay to feed on the abundant food available to them.

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Join today's tours:

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This is the original whale watching tour from Reykjavík! Join our highly enthusiastic and experienced team in the search for whales, dolphins and birds of Faxaflói bay! Most common wildlife encountered are humpbacks, minkes, dolphins and porpoises.

Duration
3:00 Hours
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An exhilarating premium tour starting from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík, with daily departures from 1 Apr - 31 Oct. A personal, small group tour with only 12 person per boat, a specially trained wildlife guide and a certified RIB boat captain.

Duration
2:00 Hours
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