- Image
- Image
Thursday, 5 October 2023
Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 13:00 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 | 9:00, 13:00
- PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 14:00
CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING | 0900
Report from Eldey: As we set off out of the harbour we could see the first snow on top of Mount Esja as we head into the winter months. Despite this it was still raining on top of us. We headed out into the bay with the wind behind us making it a pleasant trip. We headed out to the same productive area are previous days in hope of finding the same great levels of cetacean activity. As we approached this area we saw seabirds giving us hope of lots of cetaceans. We then came across a pod of around 3-4 white beaked dolphins. We got to see this pod jumping as well as coming very close to the boat. We stayed with them for a bit so we got a great viewing. Then we decided to carry on in search of more wildlife. Unfortunately, we didn´t manage to find anything else. Therefore, we offered our passengers complimentary tickets so they can come back again.
- Alexandre Paumier
CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING | 13:00
Report from Eldey: Unlike this morning, we hoped to have more sightings than rain as we sailed away in the cold wind . Before getting too far from the harbour, we came across a minke whale close to the shoreline. Sadly, it was swimming in such shallow waters that we couldn't get any closer so we left it be and headed further out. We then came across a lone harbour porpoise that surfaced a few times close to our front. Luckily we then came across 3 pods of white beaked dolphins, having around 20 individuals come and meet us throughout the tour. Exchange between groups, some jumping and some swimming with their kin, we had a great chance to encounter so much dolphin activity and headed back home happily.
- Rob "The Postafen" Hyman
Wildlife encountered today:
The Minke Whale is the most common whale around Iceland and actually the world thus it is one of the main species we encounter on our whale watching tours. It is one of few species that don’t mind coming to shallower waters like here in Faxaflói Bay to feed on the abundant food available to them.
The white-beaked dolphin is the most common dolphin found in the surrounding waters of Iceland and is seen not only in the summer but winter too usually in larger numbers, hundreds sometimes. When feeding they show energetic behaviour such as breaching out of the water and coming down with a big splash and bursts of fast swimming.
The Harbour Porpoise is the smallest and most abundant cetacean around Iceland. They are usually shy but occasionally they come and play around the boats. They can be relatively hard to spot from a distance due to their size and their abundance depends entirely on the food availability of our shores since they are opportunistic feeders.
Bird species encountered today:
herring gull, black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, sooty shearwater, razorbills, common guillemots, eider duck, Northern gannet,