Sunday, 18 June 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, and 20:30 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 | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

Report from Eldey. What a tour. We sailed out in a very calm sea with no white caps at all. The conditions made it very easy for us to spot blows and splashes even far out. On our way out we spotted a travelling harbor porpoise that showed itself only once. We headed further out and were soon able to spot the blow of a humpback whale. We approached carefully with a slight curve from behind and could stay with that individual for a while. It seemed to be really relaxed and everybody could see it quite well. We did not want to disturb it for too long so we continued our search in an area where we had seen a few blows and also splashes. When we got closer we were not disappointed. We encountered uncountable white beaked dolphins in pods all around us. Several pods were very active and feeding in that area. The dolphins were not the only hungry species around. We saw a total of 8 more humpback whales in that area, two of them were travelling together. There were also around 6 rather elusive minke whales around. The highlight of our tour was a humpback whale that was somehow travelling and interacting with white beaked dolphins. We sailed back and were all amazed by the nature in Faxafloi Bay.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsula: We sailed out the bay today with a quiet and calm condition. The sea was flat like a mirror and the light breeze was gently chilling the air. Even if it was grey the visibility was quite good that we already spotted 2 minke whales a bit far out from the Marina. And suddenly on the way 1 sleepy humpback whale popped out in our route. Of course we admired it a bit but then we left to reach another area and avoid to disturb it too much. We met 3 pods of white beaked dolphins, around 6-7 individuals each, and one in particular was jumping like crazy in front of us. All the passengers get very excited while we also saw other few minke whales swimming around with a total of 4 individuals. We decided to check another spot to see more wildlife and we saw another humpback whale showing us some shallow and deeper dives in its elegant way. Then we just discovered another young humpback was super close to us sleeping, probably the mother was the other one diving around! It is always so nice to see their fluke! Sadly everytime we have fun time flies faster and we had to go back but we met other dolphins in the distance,another humpback, 2 minke and even 1 solitary harbour porpoise! It's been a lovely and peaceful tour and everyone was super happy and relaxed. 

- Marta

Report from Eldey: We sailed out with calm seas yet again which is so great at the moment. On our journey out we spotted some harbour porpoises they surfaced a few times before heading off to eat some more fish. This is fairly typical behaviour for this elusive species. As we got further out we saw some white beaked dolphins. They were jumping out the water which excited all of us. We the got the next biggest species, nice and ironic they are all appearing in size order. 2 minke whales now appeared. Then we got to the good action seeing humpback whales with the dolphins! 3 of these humpbacks were very close together including Gustav. They were rubbing against each other, tail slapping, pec slapping and rolling. It was very interesting behaviour for what should be their feeding grounds. Another humpback then gave us a great show by breaching out the water! It also peduncle threw, it was so exciting. An incredible end to the tour. On our way home we also saw more humpbacks and minkes.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Elding: As we headed out we could already see the beautiful orange sky from the sunset. On our way out we briefly saw 2 minke whales and 3 harbour porpoises they were both quick sightings as we wanted to head out to where we knew the action was. This took about an hour. Once we got here it was amazing. There was about 15-20 humpback whales, 6 minkes and over 60 white beaked dolphins all feeding together! It was so incredible. There was blows everywhere as well as splashes from breaching humpbacks and dolphins. Some of these animals came so close to our boat for us to get a fantastic look as well. Even on our way home we got super close to one of our common humpbacks, Becca. It was almost like it was saying goodbye to our researcher Rebecca on her last tour, who it was named after. This was such a special tour to see so many humpbacks in such close proximity all feeding together.

- Rob Hyman