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Were you on this tour? You can request more photos by emailing us at elding@elding.is! - Image
Were you on this tour? You can request more photos by emailing us at elding@elding.is! - Image
Were you on this tour? You can request more photos by emailing us at elding@elding.is! - Image
Were you on this tour? You can request more photos by emailing us at elding@elding.is!
Monday, 1 January 2024
Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúlan for the 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress according to weather, as it is usually colder at sea than on land.
- CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 1300
Report from Eldey and Hafsulan: Happy new year and happy above 0 degrees! Very soon, yet again, after leaving the harbour we saw a big blow from a humpback whale. It was moving around quite a lot as we got closer but very soon it started to become more predictable and we saw it come up a lot. This was the same one as yesterday that never showed it's fluke. But it still arched it's back really nice every time. Whilst this sighting was going on and throughout the rest of the tour we saw many many grey seals. This included 3 all hauled out on a rock basking under the cloudy sky. We then moved around the coastline and found the other humpback that has stayed close to Reykjavik a lot recently. This one always shows the fluke very nicely. We have now named this whale Calamity. Calamity then stole the show as they breached out of the water! The whales then swam closer together which was cool. On the way back 3 harbour porpoises also made a quick appearance. What a great start to the year :)
- Rob Hyman and Milla Brandao
Bird species encountered today include:
Northern fulmars, herring gull, black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, eider ducks, glaucous gull, iceland gull, razorbill, common guillemot, Great cormorant
Wildlife encountered today:
The Humpback Whale is quite spectacular undergoing the longest migration of any mammal (5176miles/8334km one way), attracting females by singing to them and of course their energetic nature. On many occasions humpbacks have been seen breaching, tail slapping, fin slapping, blowing bubbles and spy hopping just to mention a few. The humpback is also one of the larger whales we encounter
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.
Grey seals are generally distinguished from harbour seal by their straight head and fewer spots. Males are darker and larger than the females who tend to be a silver, grey or brown in color. Grey seals and harbour seals are the only seals that have been reported breeding in Icelandic waters.