Monday, 26 June 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

Report from Eldey. We sailed out this morning in beautiful sunny conditions. The weather soon changed and it started to rain a little bit. That did not stop us from having a good time and we soon spotted our first cetaceans. It was two quite elusive, but very close harbor porpoises. We continued our search further out and after a while we spotted a blow. The individual that caused this far seen blow could be identified as a humpback whale. When it went for a fluke dive we did not see that individual again. We later spotted a second humpback whale and a few very close harbor porpoises. When we sailed back the sun also decided to show itself again so overall we had a lovely morning out in the bay of Faxafloi.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsula: This morning we had a truly Icelandic weather experience! As we were boarding we had rain, then we left the bay and had sun and a rainbow, then further out more rain again! We were pretty much taking jackets off and on during the whole tour. We sailed for about 40min we spotted a blow in the distance. Shortly after a fluke dike of a humpback whale! This whale was taking a very long deep dive so we decided to head on and try elsewhere. Good thing that we did, as we quickly spotted another blow. This humpback was also a bit tricky but as we were waiting for it to resurface, we were joined by a pod of 7 white beaked dolphins. This was a very curious pod coming very close to the boat and jumping all around us. While we were focused on this close pod, we saw another pod of 5 white beaked dolphins that were completely jumping out of the water and doing flips! Then out humpback resurfaced and showed us its beautiful fluke. After it went down, we went just a little bit further as this whale was also testing our patience. We were lucky and found another humpback whale. This one was the friendliest of the lot and came up a few times and showing us its fluke when it went down. When time ran out we headed back to harbour, surrounded by puffins.

- Anna Richter

Report from Eldey: We started the tour with a amazing sunny sky and a very calm sea. As we got out it took us a bit long to spot anything but suddenly we saw a blow. We got closer to it and it was our first humpback whale. We spent some time with it and then we continue as it was a bit tricky to track. After some time, we saw another blow and it was our second humpback whale. We enjoyed it for some minutes before we could see the amazing lunge feeding right under the birds. We could also see some puffins and other kind of birds on our way back. What a lovely tour.

Nicolas Corral

Report from Hafsulan: Another lovely day at sea with minor swells,sunshine and warm breeze. About 40 minutes into our tour we spotted a blow in the distance, close to one of our rib boats that confirmed that there was a 1 humpback whale waiting for us so naturally we headed in its direction. We saw it rise to the surface couple of times, exhaling a cloud of "little geyser" raising its fluke for a deeper dive then vanished into the deep for a looong time so we decided to try our luck with another cetacean spotted by our crew on another boat fairly close to us. We were in luck cause we spotted 2 humpback whales at that location - they were not together though and seemed to be heading in different directions. We focused mostly on 1 individual that graced us with great view of its fluke. All these humpbacks were quite elusive, they seemed to take longer dives then usual. After having lost sight of them we traveled further into the bay - on the way passengers spotted 2 minke whale - surfacing couple of times before disappearing. After of moment of scouting further out in the bay, a pod of 6-10 curious whitebeaked dolphins came to us and stayed for a good while giving all passengers a good look at them. On our way back to Reykjavík we scouted the sea hoping to spot the humpbacks one last time but to no avail. 

-Kristín Rós

Report from Eldey. We sailed out in the beautiful and sunny bay of Faxafloi. The sea was very calm which made would make it very easy to spot any cetaceans. After a while we encountered an elusive, travelling minke whale. When we continued our search we then encountered a pod of around 15 white beaked dolphins with which we could stay for a while. In the distance we also saw a blow that belonged to a humpback whale. In total we encountered 4 minke whales, two humpback whales and a pod of around 15 white beaked dolphins. We then enjoyed our way back in the sunny sea.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsula: We sailed into a sunny Faxafloi with barely any wind and looking forward to what we could find. On the previous tour we had seen lots of cetaceans so we were eager with anticipation. Not long after leaving the harbour we saw some mini splashes which turned out to be 3 harbour porpoises. We call them ninjas of the sea, as they vanish just after you've seen them and they did exactly that. We headed on and quickly found a pod of 8 white beaked dolphins. These started off travelling or feeding and quickly became more active, jumping fully out of the water! They were all across our front and a spectacle to see. After we enjoyed them for a bit we decided to leave the dolphins in peace and to head further into the bay. We saw 4 minke whales all towards our front, near flocks of birds - clearly all enjoying a midnight snack. As these are very fast creatures we stayed with them for a few moments but headed on, as we did we were seeing minke whales left, right and centre and must have seen roughly 10 in total. We saw another pod of 6 jumping white beaked dolphins en route as well. We spotted a blow in the distance and decided to investigate if it was a larger cetacean. It turned out to be a bit of a tricky humpback whale, showing us its beautiful fluke before going on a deeper dive. As it was taking fairly long dives and we had spotted another blow we decided to find this one instead. This was another humpback whale coming close to the boat, again showing us its fluke. This was already a good tour which then got even better. 9 white beaked dolphins joined the fun, they were now likely feeding with the humpback. They jumped out the water lots and now the humpback was surfacing more too under the midnight sun. Having the sunset and a rainbow added to the viewing. We even saw the blow of another humpback in the distance. It was a great tour!

- Rob Hyman

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