Tuesday, 18 July 2023

 Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey, Hafsúla and Elding  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: The sun was warm on our skins and the sea was very nice and calm even though we had a tiny bit of wind. We left the bay this morning in search of whales and went far all over the bay until we had our first encounter: a minke whale! This minke was a bit shy and hid in the intense sun glare, se we gave up on this individual and went in search for more. Suddenly, some eagle-eyed passangers spotted some dorsal fins that belonged to white-beaked dolphins! There were 2 dolphins, paired up and swimming calmly in the bay. As they were travelling away from us, we decided to leave them alone after taking pictures and taking a nice look of them. We headed to an area with at least 3 big flock of birds, and we spotted another minke whale that was beautifully showing its colors in the sun, with predictable surfacings. After this sighting, we decided to head back to Reykjavík, since we were running out of time, but enjoying the sunny day we had ahead of us.

- Milla Brandão

Report from Hafsulan : It was in a sunny day that we started our sail this morning. We heard from other boats that the cetaceans had been seen in the previous tour quite far off so we had to sail for a while before getting to the area. When we arrived in the area we saw a humpback whale. We instantly recognised the humpback whale as one we named Davy Jones the II, seen for a few summers in the bay. It was a really nice sighting with the whale lunge feeding for a while close to our boat. Then when we were checking out this whale 2 minke whales appeared on our right side of the vessel also lunge feeding. Then another minke appeared on our left side as well, making it 3 minke whales in total in the area. It was a very nice tour and great sightings before we had to head back toward the harbour.

- Nico 

Report from Eldey : It was by a very sunny afternoon that we started our sail in the bay. We had a bit of wind but not much swell as we travelled in the bay. From the morning tour we knew that we had cetaceans quite far out in the bay, so we sailed a good hour and a half before we had our first sighting. First we saw a few minke whales, about 5 of them were feeding in an area and gave us some looks on their backs. We could even smell these minke whales as we were seeing them, they area known as stinky minke, due to their strong breath when they are feeding. After some time with these animals we noticed a bigger blow in the distance, that was a humpback whale. As we had travelled really far we knew we would not have a a lot of time to observe this whale and we would be a bit late back in the harbour but we wanted to give our passengers the chance of seeing a humpback whale as well. This individual is one we know as Davy Jones II, we recognized it by the pigmentation on the underside of its tail and its specific dorsal hump. Just as if Davy Jones knew we would not have much time to see him today he decided to come right by the boat, barely a meter from us and we got to see him twice super close to the boat. It was a great ending of the tour.

- Windy Cindy 

Report from Hafsulan: The wind started to pick up a little this afternoon but the swell remained fairly calm meaning everyone felt good during the whole tour. We again had to sail out quite a long way to find the hotspot of cetacean activity. Once we got here it was great. We had at least 4-5 minke whales along with our friend Davy Jones II, the humpback whale. Both these species were lunge feeding whilst we were with them. Davy Jones II even rolled at one point and showed us his huge pectoral fin! We also got to see the famous humpback fluke dive many times including once right next to our boat. It was a great tour which ended with a lovely sail back to the harbour with no wind under the sun.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: Sailing out in a very sunny and cloudless afternoon, with the wind straight to our faces, we aimed straight out of the bay to the fruitful zones of the previous sighings. Though we waited a long time before any activity, we got lucky to have 2 minke whales passing by us very quickly. In the same zone, we finally saw large flocks of birds appear and often join altogether, defining the zones where the fish might be. After seeing one last minke whale glide close past us, we headed back to harbour with the wind to our backs.

- Alexandre Paumier

Report from Eldey: We sailed out this evening with little wind and some swell. The conditions were very nice, we could see the amazing sunset and the smokey volcano in the distance. We searched through the area, sailing around previous areas where we had seen wildlife on the previous tours, hoping we would see them again. Unfortunately as time passed by we still could not spot any cetacean on the horizon. We started then our way back still on the look for a blow, splash or anything indicating an animal still with no luck. As we were closer to the harbour and still nothing was on sight we decided to give some complimentary tickets for our passengers to give them a chance to come back and admire the sight of some marine mammals.

- Nico Corral

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