Friday, 29 March 2024

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for our Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress according to weather, as it is usually colder at sea than on land.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Eldey: the weather conditions were great today with clear skies and not much wind at all. Immediately after leaving port we came across a minke whale which was a very good sign for what was to come. We sailed out quite a way, and we met, after some time, a very large group of white beaked dolphins. They were feeding, herding their prey in a concerted, group action and hunting. It was incredible to see and we stayed with them for a long while. There were adults as well as young individuals. Northern fulmars were participating in the action trying to get their catch. On our way back we saw another minke whale which was quite a nice way to end the tour.

Rodrigo Ruiz Esquide

Report from Hafsula: This morning was gorgeous as we sailed out, there was very little swell and wind so it made excellent conditions to go whale watching. We sailed out for a bit and noticed lots of birds - always a good sign! We spotted a blow in the distance and headed in its direction to see what we could find! It turned out to be a minke whale! This minke surfaced a few times before heading on with ita own journey. We then continued with ours and found multiple pods of white beaked dolphins! It was quite tricky to say how many we saw, but it seemed to be roughly 5 pods of 5-7 individuals. They were pretty much surrounding us, some further out and some super close! One pod came and was bow riding and jumping and 3 other pods in the distance were also jumping out of the water! It was quite a sight to see and an excellent end to our trip.

- Anna Richter 

Report from Hafsulan: Not long after setting off from the harbour whilst enjoying the sun we saw some splashes up ahead. They were from 5-6 harbour porpoises. They surfaced quite a lot meaning people could see these tiny cetaceans well. Very soon after we saw another 3 porpoises. Then we started to head out to the deeper parts of the bay. Once we got out here we saw a blow ahead of us. As we got closer we saw the curved dorsal fin pop above the water, revealing to us it was a minke whale. This whale surfaced a few times and then was joined by another 2-3 more minkes all surfacing around us. They came really close to us a few times giving us a great view of their slim bodies and pointy rostrums. We then headed back and close to Engey we saw a lot of diving Northern gannets and another 4 porpoises.

 - Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in this beautiful sunny day to enjoy our afternoon at sea! In just a couple of minutes we spotted some splashes and movement in the water just under a flock of birds! We then saw the tiny harbour porpoises resurfacing rapidly alongside us! The pod was about 6-8 individuals a bit scattered in the area. They approached us with some curiosity but eventually decided that the lunch was much more interesting and got back to feeding. We continued our journey further out to look for more wildlife in the bay. After an hour of sailing we had some news from other boats around! They were able to track a minke whale!   We then joined them in their search, but the minke whale was showing an elusive behaviour towards the boat getting further and further away from us and making our job increasingly more difficult! As we were getting back to the harbour we had a small glance of another pod of harbour porpoises feeding just below a flock of Northern gannets!  Nonetheless, since the sightings were very short, and a lot of our passengers didn't had a chance properly enjoy the wildlife, we decided to offer complementary tickets for another change to see what the bay has to offer!

-Maria Ernesto

Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, European shag, Great cormorant, eider duck, common guillemot, black guillemot, herring gull, black backed gulls