Wednesday, 19 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: We sailed of from Reykjavik in good conditions. Calm seas and barely no wind. Mostly cloudy at first but later on the sun was shining. It did take a while before we saw activity. Birds were flying in the same direction as us and gave us hope to spot cetaceans up a head. Soon enough we spotted our first minke whale. Through out the tour we saw 3 minkes, they were feeding and we all got a good look at them because of the calm sea. As we headed further out on hope of finding some humpbacks to follow, 2 pods of white beaked dolphins appeared close to our boat. They were very relaxed, but we enjoyed their company as we headed forward in a direction where we saw a blow in the distance. When we got closer there was another blow and soon enough we had 2 humpback whales right beside the boat. Milla and Rob could identify them as Happy and Davy Jones 2. Nice to see that Davy got some company in the bay as they swam in sync. We sailed back to Reykjavik after two beautiful fluke dives. Overall a really nice tour on a sunny day.

- Ludvig Hultgren Svensson

Report from Hafsula: This morning we sailed with some wind in our faces but little swell. We sailed out a fair bit but it was very worth it in the end. On the way out we saw 2 elusive minke whales and once we found our spot we were able to watch a humpback whale lunge feeding. It did this regularly, so we were all able to see the ventral grooves on its belly multiple times. Rorquals have these folds/lines so they can extend their belly and take huge gulps of water with food. It was really amazing to see this huge animal feeding so happily infront of us. The humpback also showed its fluke very often and came super close to the boat which is always exciting. During this feeding frenzy we were surrounded by lots and lots of feeding birds and had 2 more minke whales pop up as well. We tried to stay as long as we could but eventually ran out of time and headed back to harbour. On the way we saw 2 more harbour porpoises and some moon jellyfish.

- Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: We sailed out under a lovely sunny, blue sky and on calm waters. Perfect conditions for whale watching. It did, though, take a while to find out beloved cetaceans. We had to sail for over an hour before we reached a very productive area. We suddenly started to come across many birds. Then in the distance we spotted 2 blows. On our journey there we saw some minke whales. In total we saw about 5 of this species. They were coming to the surface quickly before diving back down for fish. The two blows we had seen belonged to a pair of humpback whales called Davy Jones II and Happy. They were feeding together swimming in a circle potentially to heard the fish, they aided this feed by blowing bubbles under the water. We also saw both of them rolling too. They were lunge feeding and inverted lunge feeding. This was so cool. An incredible sighting of this pair. On our way home we enjoyed the sun as well as spotting a pod of 5 white beaked dolphins in the distance.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Hafsula: This sunny afternoon we set sail once again into our bay. The conditions were the same as the morning and we were excited to see what or who we would find this time. On our sail out we spotted 2 minke whales, we did not stop for them however as we wanted to go further out to the hotspot from the previous tour. As we arrived we saw a big blow on the horizon and started approaching with care. We had found a humpack whale! Scratch that - 2 humpback whales! One individual did a few fluke dives and then started tail slapping a fair bit and the other one moved on. Its always hard to interpret the behaviour but as there were a few boats around already we did not want to add to the strss and decided to carry on. We quickly found the other individual who was busy feeding and figured out (using the fluke) that it was Davy Jones II. We stayed together a bit and also saw 4 more minkes in that spot too. After a while we decided to head back to Reykjavik, making another detour on the way back to double check we did not miss anything.

- Anna Richter

Report from Eldey: Our day has been amazing so far, and this tour was not any different! Even though the whales were a bit far away than usual in the bay, the waiting was pretty much worth it. Our first encounter was with a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins, that we could spot even from far, as they were jumping and splashing around. This pod was not shy at all, they came very close to our boat, bowriding and jumped repeatedly super close to us, showing off. As we spotted 2 big blows in the distance, we decided to leave this playful ones and continues the trip. On the way, at least 4 minke whales popped out in different spots and we could get a good look at them, as some of them were even close and slowly swimming. We then continued spotting the blows not too far from were we were, and we saw 2 humpback whales paired up and feeding so actively! The birds were giving away their position and we never missed them. The way they performed inverted lunge feeding and showing their bellies got all smiling from ear to ear. We enjoyed them and as we were quite far way from home, we decided to head back, and on the way we could still spot some dolphins jumping on the distance. What a day!

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out quite far until we had our first encounter. The sea was very calm and the sun was trying its very best to shine on us so noone was freezing or suffering from strong winds. After about an hour we we saw a lot of Arctic Terns that seemed to be feeding so we decided to head there and check what is going on there. We were not disappointed. We saw two humpback whales that were lunge feeding very close to our boat and another humpback whale further out. The ones that kept lunge feeding very close to our vessel were also accompanied by numerous white beaked dolphins. In that same area we also watched around 7 minke whales that seemed to be feeding as well.

-Lasse Roggenkamp