Thursday, 25 July 2024

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 20:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessels Eldey and Elding 11 and our just as lovely Hafsúlan. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00.

Report from Hafsulan: We embarked on a calm sea but with light rain, personally I am very excited as it is my last day doing tours, so I want to enjoy every moment of guiding. After a while exploring the bay, we found two humpback whales feeding together, this encounter was beautiful because sometimes they would come to the surface and dive in a synchronized way, a very beautiful behaviour. We continued on our way and it wasn't long before we saw two minke whales. These were very elusive although they were spotted on several occasions, the last one we saw up to 5 times. 
We continued exploring and saw another humpback whale in the distance, but we had another target, dolphins. We continued on our course and saw a group of white beaked dolphins travelling together. Amongst these I managed to identify two baby dolphins that were very funny because they were jumping. After enjoying the encounter for a while, we decided to go back to the dive site, very happy with our morning's encounters.

- Sergi Gonzalez

Report from Eldey: Waddup in da bay today? Lets find out! We had a very calm sea and nearly no wind. Perfect conditions to find any kind of cetaceans if they are around. We did not have to sail far out until we spotted a blow in the distance. We approached carefully and found 2 beautiful humpback whales that stayed together throughout our encounter. They surfaced very close to our boat and we got really good looks at these gentle giants. They were quite calm near the surface but also changed directions a bit. We did not want to disturb them for too long so we decided to sail further out. Soon we encountered another humpback whale that also showed us its beautiful and unique fluke two times. Another great encounter. When we sailed around looking for any other activities we spotted splashes that were caused by white beaked dolphins. It was a pod of about 10 individuals that kept changing directions a lot so maybe they were feeding below the surface. 

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Elding: The sun appeared to create the perfect conditions for a whale-watching adventure this afternoon. The clear visibility allowed us to even see harbour porpoises, which are normally difficult to spot due to their small size and fast surfacing behaviour. A minke whale also made a brief appearance, but we continued our way to the area where some humpbacks had been earlier today. There, we spotted the blow of a humpback whale, an individual known as Hooker due to her hooked dorsal fin. She came very close to us and we could see every detail on her impressive body and beautiful fluke. After some wonderful moments with Hooker, we continued our journey onward to check out a flock of seabirds and eventually a second humpback whale with a darker fluke. This whale also came up regularly and lifted his tail high in the air before going for a deeper dive. Time had flown and before we knew it we had to start sailing back to Reykjavik, enjoying the lovely sunshine and calm seas. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Eldey: Wowawiewa! This afternoon we sailed out, much more sun than on the morning but to balance it out also more wind. We sailed North and after about an hour spotted a blow in the distance! This blow belonged to a humpback whale! It was a bit tricky to tell if it was travelling or feeding as it did change directions a few times but alo had some speed to it. Faxafloi is a feeding ground so it could be well a combination of both. We stayed with this humpback, named Hooker for its hooked shaped dorsal fin, for a bit and saw multiple fluke dives. We then turned and kept exploring the bay. We were very slowly on the way home and spotted a minke whale. We were expecting to see it a few times before it moved on - however this minke stayed with us for quite some time and was absolutely breathtaking. They can be quite elusive but this one was swimming circles around the boat, and often we could see it through the water! It was a magical ending to the tour!

- Anna Richter

Report from Elding: This tour is very special for me, as it will be my last one (until next year I hope). I am very excited to explore the bay and enjoy every second of the tour. The sea is rough with a few waves, but the sky is practically clear. We started exploring the bay and after a while we see our first humpback whale. This one comes to the surface timidly as it takes a while to come back out between breaths, but obviously it dazzles us with its beautiful tail fin. We decided to continue on our way and it is not long before we come across another whale. This one comes closer to the boat and allowed us to make sightings, being able to see the shape of the pectoral fin. After a long while, we continued on our way, but in the distance I saw a whale jumping, I can't see it clearly because it was 1km away. We got closer and watch its behaviour for a while, unfortunately it didn't jump again. In the distance we saw another blow, but we had to go back to get back on schedule. On the way back to the harbour we saw another whale, it looked like they were all gathering to say goodbye to me, or so I would like to think. The tour was very nice with lots of sightings, I feel very happy and lucky to have been part of the team and to have had the opportunity to do tours during the summer, I will never forget how well I have been treated and above all the patience and trust! I will be eternally grateful, I feel very happy!

- Sergi Gonzalez

Report from Elding : My goodness, what a tour ! We were uncertain as an intense rain and cold wind welcomed us when we left the harbour. Fortunately, that did not last long and soon enough the skies cleared in front of us and the clouds, now behind the boat, birthed the most spectacular rainbow I had ever seen. We sailed towards the sunset, warmed by the rays of the descending sun. Went we entered the productive area of the bay, we spotted not one, not two but three blows! We would soon realize that the area was full of humpback whales : in every direction we would see powerful blows, and right in front of us, a pod of white-beaked dolphins. We decided to start by following the dolphins, but they were traveling faster than us and we lost them after a few minutes, although we got a couple of amazing sightings of them with the rainbows in the background. We then followed four of the humpbacks, and one of them breached right in front of us, after a few powerful tail slaps ! Truly one of a kind. The light was gorgeous, all the whales kept milling and diving, showing us their flukes several times each. We spotted jumping dolphins in the distance and an elusive minke whale traveling towards the east. The bay was full of puffins, northern fulmars, great back-blacked seagulls, arctic terns ... a real party. We got back to port excited like kids, under dry skies and a gorgeous sunset.

 
- Olivia Garcia