News

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    Því miður falla allar ferðir út í Viðey niður í dag 3. september vegna óhagstæðra veðurskilyrða. Við biðjumst velvirðingar á þeim óþægindum sem þetta kann að valda en Elding setur öryggi gesta sinna og áhafnar alltaf í fyrsta sæti. Fyrir frekari upplýsingar má hringja í 519-5000 eða senda tölvupóst á elding@elding.is

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    Unfortunately all trips to Viðey island have been cance

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    HERTAR AÐGERÐIR VEGNA KÓRÓNUVEIRUNNAR
    Hugið að eigin öryggi og hreinlæti

    Í ljósi nýjustu fregna frá yfirvöldum varðandi COVID-19 biðjum við alla gesti okkar og starfsfólk um að huga sérstaklega vel að eigin öryggi og hreinlæti. Við beinum þeim tilmælum til gesta okkar að bera andlitsgrímur um borð, þar sem ekki er unnt að fylgja 2ja metra reglunni til fulls. Ef

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    Því miður falla allar ferðir út í Viðey niður í dag 18. júlí vegna óhagstæðra veðurskilyrða. Við biðjumst afsökunar á þeim óþægindum sem þetta kann að valda en Elding setur öryggi gesta sinna og starfsfólks alltaf í fyrsta sæti. Fyrir frekari upplýsingar má hringja í 519-5000 eða senda tölvupóst á elding@elding.is

    Unfortunately all trips to Viðey island have been cancelled today due t

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    Komdu með í hvalaskoðun í sumar og notaðu Ferðagjöfina til að greiða fyrir miðann - án þess að borga á milli! Frítt fyrir börn 6 ára og yngri í fylgd með fullorðnum. 

    Síðustu dagar hafa verið alveg hreint frábærir á sjó og nóg virðist vera af hval bæði frá Reykjavík og Akureyri! Bókaðu í hvalaskoðunarferð með Eldingu, með því að senda tölvupósti á elding@elding.is eða h

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    Summer is generally a great season to see whales, but this year seems to be particularly good for it! In the last few days we have encountered white-beaked dolphins, porpoises and a huge numbers of minke whales.

    Even though we are super excited about these sightings, the cherry on top has to be the extraordinary number of humpback whales in the bay, as our team has been able to photog

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    Við tökum við Ferðagjöfinni! Bókaðu ferðina þína á elding.is, sláðu kóðann þinn inn í gjafabréfareitinn á greiðslusíðunni og gakktu frá miðakaupum. Svo fljótlegt og þægilegt er það!

    "Ferðagjöfin til Íslendinga er nú aðgengileg. Ferðagjöfin er hluti af aðgerðapakka stjórnvalda og liður í því að styðja við bakið á íslenskri ferðaþjónustu í kjölfar COVID-19

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    Do you know someone who cannot travel to Iceland at this time? Invite them to join a virtual (and quite literal) roll around Iceland!

    Managing director and one of the owners of Elding, Rannveig, is a part of the group Roll Around Iceland where she and her two friends will be scooting around Iceland’s legendary 'R

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    Sumarið er komið og við bíðum spennt eftir því að byrja að sigla aftur! Áætlunin okkar næstu vikurnar er aðeins öðruvísi en við eigum að venjast, en við vonum að þið takið vel í hana og hlökkum til að sjá ykkur um borð í sumar.

    Athugið að í júní keyrum við hvalaskoðun, lundaskoðun og sjóstöng á sértilboði. Skoðið hverja ferð fyrir sig til að fá nánari upplýsingar um v

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    As a tour operator and an environmentally aware company, Elding has been assisting and conducting research programmes in collaboration with national and international institutions. Last week, we collaborated with Dr. Erpur Snær Hansen (Director of

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    Is there a best time of year to see whales? That's a question we are asked quite frequently. Our wildlife research can give us an idea, but in the end it is up to the whales, living freely in our waters.

    As we operate daily throughout the year (with permission of favourable weather conditions and the exception of global pandemics), we have the opportunity to encounter whales in differ

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    Vegna slæms sjólags við gömlu höfnina í Reykjavík í dag, 26 maí 2020, siglir Viðeyjarferjan hvorki í Hörpu né á Ægisgarð. Siglingar eru enn á áætlun frá Skarfabakka hinsvegar og verða áfram í dag skv. áætlun. 


    Due to unfavourable sea conditions, the Viðey ferry will not stop at Harpa or the Old Harbour today, 26 May 2020. Schedule from Skarfabakki is still going ahead and

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    Öryggi og ánægja farþegar okkar og áhafnar er alltaf í forgrunni hjá okkur. Því höfum við ákveðið að halda bátunum kyrrsettum við höfnina og er því ÖLLUM ferðum Viðeyjarferjunnar í dag, 24. maí 2020, AFLÝST. Þeir sem eiga miða í ferjuna stendur til boða að velja nýja brottför eða fá endurgreitt að fullu.


    The safety and pleasure of our passengers and staff is a major prior

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    Twenty years ago today, a whale watching company was founded by a family that was eager to combine their interest in wildlife, boats and people. That company went on to grow from a small-scale seasonal business in Sandgerði, to being the biggest boat tour operator in all Iceland; operating year round from Reykjavík and Akureyri!

    Three generations have worked together, along with many

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    During these strange times, our team is working hard behind the scenes to make sure we are better and stronger than ever when we start operating tours again. Over the next few weeks, our team will be sharing some personal insights and stories of themselves on our Facebook page, and let you know wha

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    Did you know that it is the first day of Summer in Iceland today? The first Thursday after April 18th is Sumardagurinn Fyrsti and a national holiday since 1971. But for many the arrival of summer is marked by another thing than this date – it is the arrival of the bird species Arctic Tern, or Kría in Icelandic. 

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    When a whale is encountered for the first time, it gets a scientific name so it can be identified amongst the hundreds of other individuals we have on file. So why would we give them a second name if they already have one?

    One of the reasons is quite simple; they're just a lot easier to remember..

    A scientific name consists of the abbreviation of their latin name, date they

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    With our tours being on halt until further notice, we decided to try something different.. VIRTUAL WHALE WATCHING! We invited our entire Facebook audience on a LIVE STREAM where four of our crew members (Sabrina, Leó, Ottó and Bárður) headed out into Faxaflói bay in search for wildlife. Luc

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    Is there a better time to see whales? How often this question comes up. And our research team, Rodrigo and Sabrina, have looked at data collected last summer to give us an answer to that. 'Not really'.

    While time of the day seems to have no effect on sighting success, many other factors like weather conditions, oceanic currents, location, food availability and even tides

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    Puffin sitting on a hill

    When you think of Iceland's birds, the Atlantic Puffin is likely to be the first one that comes to mind. Their iconic look of a black and white body complimented with a colourful orange beak has even given them the nickname 'the clown of the sea'! Here are 10 facts you may not have known about the Atlantic Puffin..

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    Did you know that some whales don't have any teeth? Luckily for them, that doesn't mean they can't eat! In fact, they use a method called 'filter feeding', which doesn't require any chewing..

    Minke whales and humpback whales are the most common whales in Reykjavík's waters and are cetaceans classified under the parvorder mysticeti, which is a scientific suborder of whales that ha

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    TOURS CANCELLED

    The safety of our passengers, team and crew members is always our number one priority and therefore we regret to inform you that we have made the decision to bring all our tours to a halt until further notice. In the meantime, we will be preparing for when things are back to normal.

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    We are pleased to announce that Elding has successfully completed the WCA's Responsible Whale Watching Certification remote audit and has officially become one of the first whale watching operators to achieve this global certification! 

    Certificationis based on the

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    Did you know that Elding's research team has kept a catalogue of every whale spotted on our tours since 2007? So far, we have about 500 humpback whales on file!

    Although every new individual gets a scientific name (their species latin name, year, month, date, and number for the order they were seen that day) we also like to give them nicknames. Since last year we added a lot of new wh

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    Elding has a long standing commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. On board our boats and throughout our premises, we work hard on implementing extensive recycling routines with the assistance of our incredible team of staff and passengers alike.

    We had seen an increase in use of single-use coffee cups throughout the years, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. In 201

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    Öryggi og ánægja farþegar okkar og áhafnar er alltaf í forgrunni hjá okkur. Því höfum við ákveðið að halda bátunum kyrrsettum við höfnina og er því ÖLLUM ferðum Viðeyjarferjunnar í dag, 2. mars 2020, hefur verið AFLÝST. Þeir sem eiga miða í ferjuna stendur til boða að velja nýja brottför eða fá endurgreitt að fullu.


    The safety and pleasure of our passengers and staff

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    A wonderful surprise awaited us in the bay this morning - it was a humpback whale! In the afternoon, we were surprised again by yet another humpback whale! Our research team has since determined that both whales are new to the area. Very exciting!

    Since we haven't encountered either whale in the past, this meant two new entries to our whale catalog! The dark fluked whale has

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    Tonight, 18 February 2020, the Imagine Peace Tower will be lit to commemorate Yoko Ono's 87th birthday!

    The tower is illuminated 1 hr. after sunset until midnight from 9 October until 8 December (John Lennon's birthday and day of demise). From Winter Solstice the bea

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    Whales are migratory animals, meaning they have two places they live in during the year, a feeding ground and a mating ground. Colder climates are generally richer with food and warmer climates more appropriate to birth calves and breed. Most of Iceland's whales will migrate south in winter, which means that the whales we see on our tours here in the summer could be seen in places lik

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    Öryggi og ánægja farþegar okkar og áhafnar er alltaf í forgrunni hjá okkur. Því höfum við ákveðið að halda bátunum kyrrsettum við höfnina og er því ÖLLUM ferðum Viðeyjarferjunnar í dag, 15. febrúar 2020, hefur verið AFLÝST. Þeir sem eiga miða í ferjuna stendur til boða að velja nýja brottför eða fá endurgreitt að fullu.


    The safety and pleasure of our passengers and s

  • A RED ALERT has been issued by the Icelandic Met Office due to hurricane force winds caused by a storm that is due to hit Iceland on Friday! "The weather is likely to cause extensive transport disturbances and travelling is not advised while the weather warning is in effect. Damage to structures due to wind is possible,

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    February is here, which means the days are growing longer and mornings are becoming brighter! As of today, we will be sailing twice a day in search for whales and dolphins with departures at 09:00 and 13:00 from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík! Click here to see our schedule and operating times and

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    Öryggi og ánægja farþegar okkar og áhafnar er alltaf í forgrunni hjá okkur. Því höfum við ákveðið að halda bátunum kyrrsettum við höfnina og er því ÖLLUM ferðum Viðeyjarferjunnar í dag, 25. janúar 2020, hefur verið AFLÝST. Þeir sem eiga miða í ferjuna stendur til boða að velja nýja brottför eða fá endurgreitt að fullu.


    The safety and pleasure of our passengers and st

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    There are over 30,000 white-beaked dolphins in and around Icelandic waters all year round. They are non-migrant, meaning they stay in the same area throughout their lifespan. 

    Dolphins are highly social animals, but our research shows that they are not fixed to a specific group, but they seem move freely between pods! This is a smart strategy to keep the genetic variabilit

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    The Viðey ferry is finally up and running again this weekend after the pier on the island broke off in a heavy storm in December. Repairs have been made and the island is ready to receive visitors once again!

    Viðey island is a charming piece of land just off Reykjavík

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    ELDING CALENDAR 2020 IS FINALLY HERE!

    With efforts of our team in Reykjavík and Akureyri, we created a unique calendar with some of the best pictures taken on our tours in recent years. They are already available for purchase in our ticket offices, but we are also able to ship worldwide.

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    An interesting discovery was made recently by our research team as they looked through last year's encounters. They came to the conclusion that minke whales were our most frequently sighted species in the summer of 2019, or over 522 times!

    By implementing the simple, non-invasive method of photo-identification they were able to estimate the actual abundance in Faxaflói. Using it, they

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    Another day, another storm.. So far this year, all of our whale watching tours have been negatively affected by unfavourable conditions. Yellow and orange alerts have been issued by the Icelandic Met Office day after day and SafeTravel has warned people about road closure

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    What a year it’s been.. As 2020 is already upon us, we decided to go ahead and look over our highlights and golden moments from 2019!

    We started the year with a friendly humpback whale feeding close to the shore almost daily here in Reykjavík. It was truly amazing to see the amazing crea

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    Bus stop #6 has been closed for a while and passengers have been redirected to bus stop #3 in the meantime. As of now, 20 December 2019, the bus stop #6 is back in operation and guests staying at Canopy by Hilton –Hótel Frón – 101 Hótel, Apartment K – Hverfisgata 14, Apartment K – Ingólfsstræti 1a, Apartment K – Skólastræti 1, Apartment K – Þingholtsstræti 2-4

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    Our research team just positively identified the male orca we encountered in Faxaflói bay last weekend as the same individual that we encountered in a similar area earlier this year! Interestingly enough, on 28 February the male was seen travelling with another male, but it seems to have returned on 15 December with a juvenile, a female and her calf!

    Using photo identification, we are