Thursday, 17 August 2023

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00 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.  

• 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
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00

Report from Eldey: today the sea was a bit choppy and we faced a classic Icelandic summer: strong wind and rain on our faces. However, this didn't stop us from finding the cetaceans today! We got raincoats, overalls and we were ready to spot anything. Our first encounter was with a minke whale, as we saw the blow not far from us. We saw it one more time and we were about to continue our trip, but about 5 white-beaked dolphins, jumping very high in our direction! These always put on a show and seconds later they were right next to us, surfing with the swell and bowriding us, very playful. They were just passing by, but it was a great encounter. We then went to an area in which we saw 2 different minke whales, and one of them spent a while next to us, as we enjoyed to take a good look on this individual, since its surfacing was more predictable. After these sightings, we headed back to Reykjavík as we enjoyed the hot chocolates inside the saloon, watching the rain fade way slowly.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Elding: As we sailed out we luckily had the wind behind us, but it was raining a bit. After sailing for just under an hour we had our first glimpse of cetacean life. We saw a blow then within a few minutes 3-4 minke whales appeared. One even surfaced a few times very close to the front of our boat. We had a beautiful view of the whole body including it's pointy rostrum and the white stripes on the pectoral fins. Having seen these minkes we then spotted a pod of 6 milling white beaked dolphins. They were very calm then out of nowhere one of them leaped incredibly high out of the water. Love may have been in the air because we could see it's penis. After enjoying these dolphins for a bit we then saw another 2 minkes. We then headed home into the strong wing and rain but everyone was happy after a lovely tour.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in a rough and windy bay of Faxafloi but would not be disappointed. After about half an hour of sailing we saw a lot of very actively feeding birds and decided to check that area out. We were amazed by uncountable northern gannets all around us that kept entertaining us with spectacular plunge dives. We also encountered a total of around 4 minke whales that also came really close to our boat and everyone got a good look at that individual. Another highlight of the tour was a pod of white beaked dolphins that also came very close to our boat and was at points playing with the waves our vessel creates. On the way back we were still amazed by all the gannets.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: The wind had calmed down a lot for this evenings tour meaning the swell was much calmer too. This was great news to start our midnight tour. As we sailed out we saw so many Northern gannets, it was unbelievable to see so many of these majestic birds. Having travelled out for over an hour we spotted a couple of white beaked dolphins. As this sighting progressed we ended up surrounded by a pod of 8-10 dolphins, it was very cool. We got to see them jumping and bow riding. It even looked as though they were probably feeding at one stage. Having spent a great time with these dolphins we carried on to an area where we could see many seabirds. We can use these as a bio-indicator to find cetaceans. Then we came across a pod of 2 white beaked dolphins, these also came very close to us but were a bit more elusive. Finally, we headed back into the wind towards the harbour with a boat full of happy dolphin loving passengers. 

- Melanie

Northern Gannet, Atlantic puffin, sooty shearwater, manx shearwater, herring gull, glaucous gull, lesser and great black back gull