Tuesday, 20 June 2023

Today we will be operating 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

Report from Eldey: The sea was rough on Faxafloi bay this morning but that doesn't impact cetaceans at all, just makes it a little bit more difficult to spot them. We saw blows from 4 very elusive minke whales. We tried to get closer but never managed to get a proper view of them. The same went with a single harbour porpoise.  But at the moment we almost lost hope of close encounters 3 white beaked dolphins and 1 humpback whale surfaced next to the boat, making it all worth the while. It was really great to see these two species interacting.

- Kristin Ros

Report from Elding: What an unexpected tour! We sailed out today with very bad conditions: the sea was very rough and the wind was blowing very strong. We faced the wind and some waves in the beginning of the tour when I just spotted 1 minke whale jumping out of the water 5 times. Once we arrived closer it just stopped breaching and we wait to see it again. It was quite tricky due to the waves and the white caps but the majority of the passengers managed to see it again swimming in front of us and we could see its dorsal fin breaking the surface of the water few more times. Then we decided to change the area and we moved towards an area full of birds activity. Suddenly we saw few splashes quite far and getting closer I just recognized 1 happy humpback whale jumping out of the water with almost the full body. We got so lucky to see this gentle giant giving us a unique and extraordinary show: breaching with half body, full body, pec slapping and even tail lobbing. I literally lost the count of how many times it jumped out and this lovely whale continued waving at us for a long time. It had been a life time experience for all of us. Sadly we had to head back to the harbor and on the way back this creature was still slapping its flippers - pectoral fins - and saying goodbye to us...super cute!!! 

- Marta   

Report from Eldey: The sun came out as we started our sail in the bay. We warned all the passengers before the tour and also at the beginning of the tour that there will be a bit of swell today. As we sailed out in the bay we were looking for cetaceans while still observing some nice sea birds and the landscapes of a sunny Reykjavik. After some time in the tour we saw 2 white beaked dolphins, but the dolphins passed us by really fast, clearly not in the mood to socialize. It is ok, it's nature. We then continued our sail looking for something bigger. After some time a humpback whale blow in the horizon, as we got closer the whale went down. We manage to see it from the distance another time for another surface sequence before it disappeared, also clearly not in the mood to socialize. On our way back we looked for cetaceans, but unfortunately nothing came up again. We did not get really lucky on that tour, the passengers did not have a good look on the beauty of these animals, so we offered them complimentary tickets for them to hopefully come back to enjoy better sightings.  

- Rob
 

Report from Eldey: The sun was out during this midnight tour but the sea was choppy and a strong wind was coming from the north. It was beautiful and wild. As usual when the sun is out, the mountains were wonderful. We took the direction of Akranes crossing many species of seabirds, like fulmars, Arctic terns and cute puffins. After a while we headed more south and started seeing a blow here and there with difficulties to identify the animal. Then in the distance we saw a big splash! We approached and saw a minke whale breaching 10-15 times, lifting its long body completely outside of the water, then falling back in a massive splash. Incredible. At the same time, big blows, likely belonging to humpback whales appeared on our right. We tried to get closer of the breaching minke but it was swimming fast. After a last breach it did not show itself again. We then tried to come back to the location where the blows were visible and crossed another minke whale that surfaced a few times. The we spotted a large blow behind us with many little blows and splashes around. It was a humpback whale and a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins swam toward us curious about our vessel and came right next to us, bow-riding and following us for a few minutes. Then the humpback whale appeared on our left side at only 50 meters from the boat! The animal was difficult to find afterwards and we could only see its blow. We were out of time so we headed back home with the sunset on our back.

- Miquel Pons

Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, black guillemot, Arctic skua, northern fulmar, northern gannet, great black backed gull, lesser black backed gull, razorbill, herring gull, Arctic tern