Sunday, 20 July 2025

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 20:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR |10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Report from Eldey: We headed out into a thick fog on a calm bay. Far from ideal conditions, but we were up for the challenge. After sailing deep into the bay, we headed into an area of activity, with many seabirds and several sneaky minke whales popping up around us. We headed for some larger figures as well as some splashes in the mist: total of 4 humpback whales feeding in the area along with a pod of about 9 white-beaked dolphins! Quite a feeding frenzy! We got to see some wonderful fluke dives, some lunges at the very surface, bubble-net feeding, and even a breach, which was a complete surprise! Quite the reward for heading out in this gloomy weather, making it more than worth it! As we headed to turn back, we were greeted by some more white-beaked dolphins, coming close for a quick bow-ride, sending us on our way to the harbour. What a lucky day!

- Orsi Stipsicz

Report from Elding: We set off into a dense fog but with perfect sea conditions. Deeper out into the bay the fog cleared out a bit and revealed a pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins! At first they did not seem to be really interested in us, but then they did change their behaviour and came right up to us! We could see their pretty colour patterns shine through the water as they approached us and after they checked us out, they moved on wards and so did we. We then found a spot with 2  humpback whales feeding. The first one we could see lungefeeding about 8 times while the second one seemed very keen on feeding upside down and rolling over, showing off his belly and beautiful pectoral fins. In this area we also spotted 4 minke whales coming and going and so we decided to stick around this area until time ran out and we had to go back to harbour.

Milan Vansteelandt

Report from Eldey: We set out into the clearing fog on the calm, flat bay. We came across some very elusive harbour porpoises, and soon after, a large pod of 12 white-beaked dolphins. We continued on, clearly heading into a very active feeding area, as shown be the many minke whales around us, as well as the excited seabirds. It didn't take us long to spot our first humpback whale in this very productive area, or so we thought, because there were actually 3 humpbacks in front of us! We watched these whales as they circled around, likely feeding just below the surface. In the distance, we could see the dolphins jumping and splashing around. Everywhere we looked, a minke whale was surfacing somewhere. We were totally surrounded by cetaceans! After some time spend with these gorgeous animals, we sadly had to say goodbye and begin our journey back to land. On the way back, we enjoyed some hot chocolate in the warm saloon. 

-Sigrún Helgu

Report from Elding: The fog lied like a thick blanket over Faxafloi bay today, but as we got further out it got lighter. We started off with spotting a fast creature coming up on our left hand side. This was a minke whale. We saw it a couple of times but continued on our journey. We noticed a big spout and a dorsal fin in the distance, and as we got closer we saw that it was a humpback whale. It surfaced quite frequently, but was very fast and therefore hard to follow. We saw it a couple pf times but carried on our journey for something a bit more curious. Another humpback whale came up and this one was very nice and got close to us and even did pectorial slaps! At the same time we had a pod of about 10 white beaked dolphins. We stayed by the humpback first and then checked out the dolphins a bit closer. The sea was incredibly calm today and we got to see the dolphins very well under the surface. As we were searching for more, two more humpback whales appeared right in front of the boat and caught us completely off guard. One was a bit more active so we spent time with this one, seing its beautiful fluke dives. We then went closer to the sleeping one that woke up eventually, and out of nowhere it did a breach that impressed everyone! In the distance we noticed that the other one was actively feeding amongst a huge flock of birds so we headed there. This was a very good decision since it started doing bubblenet feeding! It did so a couple of times and it was absolutely beautiful. During the tour we saw breaches in the distance and we were constantly surrounded by minke whales. We probably had 15 minke whales during the tour. Absolutely wonderful time out at sea!

-Frida Skarfors

Report from Eldey: We set sail onto a mirror-flat, calm bay, with the fog lifting. We headed deep into the bay, where we came across an area with a lot of excited birds swirling around. We inched closer, and soon spotted many busy minke whales feeding in the area. We got to see this typically very shy species up close, close enough to hear their blow and see them using their bright pectoral bands to herd fish to the surface. We also saw some lunges from these elusive whales just beneath the surface. The water was sparkling all around us from the sandeels, and we continued on, hoping the feast attracted some larger whales as well. We didn't have to search long to find 3 humpback whales going for some fluke dives as well as a large pod of about 10 white-beaked dolphins splashing about. We quickly headed over and were treated to an acrobatic display from the dolphins, as well as a lovely close view of a relaxed humpback resting on the surface. We then turned our attention to a more active humpback, lunge feeding nearby. We stayed with this busy whale for as long as possible, before we had to head back to port. We got to see so many incredible, powerful lunges, what a tour!

- Orsi Stipsicz

Report from Elding: The sea conditions were still perfect and the gloomy fog had cleared a bit more as we set sail this evening. This evening we ended up in the same busy spot as earlier. We spotted a big pod of around 10 white-beaked dolphins that were jumping in the distance, and so we decided to approach them  but as we got closer, we realised they were keen on their private space and disappeared rather quickly. Later on, we did managed to spot them in the distance once more performing the same acrobatics. In the area were also 6-8 minke whales, very busy feeding and in their efforts they came less than 50 meters close to our boat on multiple occasions, giving us great looks at these usually shy cetaceans. We also saw 3 humpback whales, the first 2 in close proximity, very busy feeding. After a sweet, long time with them, we move on to a third humpback , spending lots of time at the surface and flukediving often. All of a sudden, one of the previous whales caught our attention with a massive breach in the distance! We headed straight back there and after a second breach it started doing more acrobatics in the shape of peduncle throws, tail slaps and pectoral slaps! This whale was putting on an amazing show for at least 10 minutes, it clearly got hungry once more and to satiate it hunger it started to dive down, only to come back up after creating some amazing bubble nets! After this whale giving us almost the while range of humpback behaviours, we decided to call it a day and sailed happily back to Reykjavik.

Milan Vansteelandt