Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land. 

• ALL TOURS ON SCHEDULE
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in a cloudy bay of Faxafloi but the sea was very calm. As we sailed out the sun even came out and made the conditions even better for us. On the way out we encountered an elusively travelling harbor porpoise. We did not stop for that individual and decided to continue our search for any cetaceans further out in the bay. It was a bit rainy by now but also sunny so we saw an amazing rainbow right in front of our ship. It was a reminder for all of us that love is a universal language that does not care about origin, skin colour, gender or the sexual orientation. Happy pride week everybody! A flock of black backed gulls caught our attention and we decided to approach in hope that there are cetaceans nearby. We were lucky and spotted a minke whale very soon. This part of the bay was very active and we did not only see a total of 7 minke whales but also about 12 beautiful northern gannets that kept entertaining us with their acrobatic plunge dives. When we sailed a little further out we encountered a pod of around 8 white beaked dolphins that was seemingly feeding. We decided to not stay with the dolphins for however they did not want us to leave so they kept following us and they were also bowriding which was really amazing to watch.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsulan: We had mixed weather through out this tour. Beams of sunlight started peaking out from the clouds while a rainbow led us to an area were several minke whales appeared. We saw 5 individuals taking turn lunge-feeding around us while seabirds tried their luck in the wake of the whales. We got to enjoy the minke whales company while the sun came out. We sailed home feeling grateful for their presence. 

- Ludvig Hultgren Svensson

Report from Eldey: We sailed out and the waves had picked up a little bit with more whitecaps being visible. It was still good sailing though with nobody being seasick. We had to wait quite a while before seeing any cetaceans. In the mean time though, we did see some plunge diving Northern gannets which was cool. When we did find cetaceans it was worth the wait. We saw 4 minke whales. One of them stayed close to us for about 15 minutes which was very exciting. We had a fantastic view of this individual. We then saw a few more after this but they were a little bit more elusive. We had a slow start but this ended as a lovely tour.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Hafsula: Our atmospheric day continued, with the ocean now having a dark and atmospheric tone to it. We sailed out with a bit of wind coming towards us but the rain from the morning had stopped. After an hour of sailing we were surrounded by birds and minke whales as well! A few came so close we could hear their blows, and one lunge fed right in front of us as well. There was often multiple coming up at the same time and then going for dives at the same time as well. We stayed for a bit, and in total there was 5-7 minke whales around us. Before returning to harbour we did a loop to see if we could spot another species or different individuals and saw one more minke on the way. 

- Anna Richter

Report from Eldey: We sailed out with the wind in a very calm sea. We decided to go to an area where we had been in the morning. In the far distance we saw a lot of active birds, mainly black backed gulls. That was a good sign for us and we approached to check out the area. Soon we saw the first cetacean of the tour: A feeding minke whale. As we kept following that individual we found out that there were at least 4 individuals. They were mostly rather elusive so we went on and continued our search in the bay of Faxafloi. Suddenly "Humpie", a minke whale that can easily be recognised by the injured dorsal fin that looks like the dorsal fin of a humpback whale, appeared right in front of the ship. Humpie was even accompanied by around 6 white beaked dolphins and they seemed all to be feeding. That was a beautiful surprise at the end of the tour and we soon started our way back to Reykjavik.

-Lasse Roggenkamp