News

Yes the holiday season is coming up and we will of course be greating our guests in the holiday spirit throughout December. Next Thursday the Elding team is coming together for our annual cooking baking day to prepare the homemade cookies we'll be offering our guests in the Whale Watching Centre before all December departurs. We'll also have a special warm christmas punch that's ideal to w

Although it's felt like winter for a while here in Reykjavík our winter season is starting in just two days. Although we keep running the tours all year round the winter differs in many aspect from the summer. Apart from the obvious colder weather it's in general just a whole new experience and adventure. Each year continues to surprise us with the wildlife it offers. Herring and capelin being

Realizing that Iceland has a lot to offer we decided quite early on to offer the so called Combo Tours to guests that want to make the most of their time while in Iceland. This way guests can easily combine whale watching with some of the exciting adventures our collaborators are offering.

Our head naturalist, Megan Whittaker, recently published a book about whale watching. It captures some of the best moments of whale watching in Iceland with simple, fun factoids to answer those most frequently asked questions. It's a book full of photographs that says a thousand words, small enough to take home and enjoy for years to come.

Next Monday we're taking part in an exiting tour called: "Deep Relaxation, Meditation, and Whale Watching" organized by Arnbjörg Kristín Konráðsdóttir from Græni Lótusinn. The idea is to south the mind with meditation, relaxation and the sounds of the gong in our whale watching area. You may know that the sound of the gong is said to aid in relaxation as it resonates well with the human body an

Safety is naturally a top priority for us, and we take every possible precaution to guarantee our guests a safe and enjoyable tour. Qualifying to work on board our boats all crew members go through STCW training from the Maritime Safety and Survival Training Centre and regularly attend courses in maritime safety and lifesaving.

At work most of what we do is accident prevention but in

The sun is still rising on the horizon and in just few days we'll start running our designated midnight tours; Whales in the Midnight Sun. This is the fifth summer we run these tours and each year we're happier with the decision to take guests out to enjoy the bright nights. As if the midnight sun isn't magical enough itself there is just something spectacular about enjoying it at sea surrounde

The wonderful puffins have arrived after their winter dwelling out on the water. It must be a relief for them to finally have time to rest here in their breeding grounds, well if we can call the breeding any rest.

About a month ago we started seeing the occasional puffin out in the whale watching area but now their numbers have increased a great deal. They've started settling on the i

It's just few days until Easter and we can't wait for the fun (and chocolate) ahead. If you're planning an Easter brake in Reykjavík your in for a treat as we'll be running all our tours according to schedule. The same applies for MAR restaurant and the ferry to Viðey Island. To warm up for the easter break we'll even be running an Easter Egg Hunt on the island on 12 April; it's a great adventu

We're taking part in this unique Northern Lights Hunt with our friends from Northsailing in Húsavík. You get to enjoy sailing on Pirate Ship Opal and view Reykjavík on Faxaflói Bay from a new angle. Enjoy the fresh air on deck or the warmth and cozyness of the deckshouse and the saloon below.

It's just over a month until we celebrate WhaleFest in Brighton from 15-16 March. This is the third time the event is held and we've been participating from the start. There is surely a good reason why we keep coming back. It's fun, it's educational and filled with interesting people who share our passion for whales, dolphins and ocean life.

WhaleFest is a not-for-profit event, which

The day is getting longer and we're foreseeing a busy spring here. Not only have we added morning departures in March but we also have few morning departures in February as well. Here you can find our schedule for the coming year and below our extra departures:

Here is a list of these extra departures in February

We hope you can join us and

Another interesting year has now passed full of stories and memories that keep piling up. The weather conditions this year were particularly challenging for us, especially during the latter half of the year. However, despite the weather our passenger numbers kept increasing proportionally to the number of visitors vacationing in Iceland.

Apart from running the tours we kept ourselves

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our friends happy holidays.

It looks like we'll have to celebrate the holidays away from our dear cetacean as the weather forecast is quite bad. We have cancelled today's tour and frankly it doesn't look good for tomorrow either. For those of you who are in Iceland STAY SAFE and we hope you get to join us on a tour once the wea

It's fair to say that the last weeks have been very dissapointing with regards to whale watching. November turned out to be statistically our worst month ever, both when considering the number of non sighting tours and the number of cancelled tours. The weather is largely to be blamed but one can't help wondering what else could influence this situation.

We were therefore really happy

It's been snowing and we made lots of cookies at our annual cooking baking day last Monday. Yes December is truly the time when we all get into our holiday spirit. Therefore we'll welcome our guests with holiday punch and those lovely homemade cookies in the Whale Watching Centre before all departures. We'll be operating during the holidays with a variety of tours on schedule. In the Whale Watc

Elding Whale Watching has secured the prestigious EarthCheck Gold level of certification through the world’s leading certifier of travel and tourism organisations.

EarthCheck is widely regarded as the world’s most scientifically rigorous environmental management Program, designed specifically for the travel and tourism industry.

The Program is trusted by more than 1200 organisations

Share a unique moment of peace in Reykjavík City

The Illumination of Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower will take place on John Lennon’s birthday on 9th October, at 8PM.

As has become tradition over the past few years, Yoko Ono invites guests to share a moment of peace, and witness up-close the spectacular illumination of the Imagine Peace Tower – a powerful dedication to John L

For Reykjavík Cultural Night last month we took on a quite peculiar role. This was land based whale watching, and more over from within the comfort of the concert hall and conference centre HARPA. We had everything there; boats, life wests, big screens and great captures of local whales swimming freely in the real world and even a slight ocean spray every now and then. We also brought along bal

We'd like to draw your attention to a recent warning from the Icelandic Met Office. They are forecasting strong winds and high precipitation on Friday & Saturday in all north Iceland. It could have some effect on other parts of the country as well, and frankly it isn't looking good for whale watching in Faxaflói bay on Friday and Saturday.

We're crossing our fingers and hopin

Yes it's soon time for another celebration. This time it's Reykjavík anniversery that is celebrated with the magical Reykjavík Culture Night. Although the official anniversary is on 18 August it is celebrated the first Saturday after, this year turning up on 24 August.

The celebration takes place all across Reykjavík, in streets and squares, in museums, businesses and even residential

Last Tuesday the annual Reykjavík Pride (i. Hinsegin dagar) begun. This is the 15th consecutive year the festival is held and each year brings something exciting and as it is designed to celebrate diversity the festival has surely something for everyone.

More information about the program can be found on the festival's webpage or the Program Guide distributed extensivvely in Reyk

Few days ago Renee Blodgett joined our whale watching tour. She is a travel blogger and has put to gether a nice feature about her experience of our tour. For us it is always interesting to hear what our guests have to say and surely our future guests might find some interesting points in her post.

Click here for Renee's full post, Summertime Whale Watching Out of Reykjavik’s Har

Charities and businesses from around the world form ‘world cetacean alliance’ in an overdue new partnership for whales and dolphins. We felt the urge to be apart of this new as our whale watching area is exposed to one of the expreame threats; whaling. We hope that you show your support by either joining the partnership or help us map the areas of concern. Below you can find more info

We recently achieved our fifth EarthCheck Silver Certification.

EarthCheck is widely regarded as the world’s most scientifically rigorous environmental management Program, designed specifically for the travel and tourism industry.

The Program is trusted by more than 1200 organisations in over 65 countries. It is used to measure key environmental indicators such as: energy an

As it was snowing yesterday it may be hard for some to believe that the puffins are coming. Well the sun is shining today the snow melting (if note melted) and for the last few days we have seen puffins out on the water. We had been expecting them as the first puffins usually start arriving in late April and we know that more will follow swiftly. The puffins usually settle on the islands around

Easter is truly special time here in Iceland. Over the years we have noticed that more and more travellers decide to spend their Easter vacation in Iceland. The locals also use this time well for travels, recreation, meeting friends and families and of course enjoy some delisous Easter Eggs.

Traditional Easter holidays in Iceland are from Holy Thursday until Easter Monday (28 March to

Although we have generally been quite happy with the weather in the past few months we are kind of looking forward to the summer now. There have surely been some positive signs lately with the sunny days, good sightings and the beautiful late sunsets in the evenings. Last but not least, just as the Golden Plover's arrival is considered by many to be the definitive mark of winter's end, we celeb

The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will be lit at 6 pm on 18 February until 10 am on 19 February local Icelandic time as a tribute to Ms. Ono and to wish her a happy birthday.

The Mayor Mr. Jon Gnarr, says that it is appropriate to thank her for her dedication to peace and Reykjavik. “Reykjavík is honored that Ms. Yoko Ono chose Videy island as the home of the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER which is a beau

The year 2012 has been an interesting year for us. Early on our contract with the city regarding the Viðey Ferry was renewed for the next five years. We were also really proud when our General Manager and the owner of Elding, Rannveig Grétarsdóttir, received the 2012 FKA Acknowledgement Awards in January. In June we added a new boat to our fleet called Skrúður. We use it mainly for Viðey Island

December is truly the time when we all get into our holiday spirit. It is magical walking around admiring the appearance of the city as we light up our surroundings. As always the Christmas Harbour is an interesting place to visit during the holidays with all it's quirky little shops, selection of restaurants and activities to choose from.

Holiday whale watching has become a trad

The WhaleFest was held in Brighton last weekend and attracted over 6000 visitors. Having been there last year we were sure that this was an event we didn't want to miss. It is inspiring to see all the great whale watching sites around the world, the great work NGO's are doing in protecting the wildlife and the work artists around the world have put on inspired by theses majestic creatures. Dyla

The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will be relit during a peaceful ceremony next Tuesday on 9 October which is John Lennon’s day of birth.

Like previous years Yoko Ono invites us to attending the ceremony with a free sailing to Viðey Island on that occasion. The program starts at 19:00 by Viðeyjarnaust and the evening will be made memorable for all those who attend with a serene and beautiful atmosp

Reykjavík Film Festival (RIFF) is in full swing and movie lovers should find plenty to chose from in the cinemas. Like previous years we take part in RIFF around the corner. This year we will run the Icelandic documentary Kvikur sjór directed by Þorsteinn Jónsson in the Whale Watching Centre on Saturday at 12:00.

The documentary is about fishermen in Iceland; how their job has developed o

A  new global community for saving the whales is on the rise. This is the Save the Whales: Reloaded campaign that will be launched at this October's World Whale Conference in Brighton, England.

This campaign is built on the groundwork that began 30 years ago when the original Save the Whales campaign resulted in arguable the biggest conservation victory in history. This was of course the

On our 1700 tour today we were surprised to encounter one of the rarest whales seen on whale watching tours, a sei whale. The third largest rorqual after the blue and fin whales growing to a staggering 21m long. The reason why they are rare is because they are an offshore species and today it was feeding on copepods in areas as shallow as 40m. Check out our report from the tour.

Recently a new CD came out containing songs and sounds of the Icelandic Humpback Whales. It is based on recordings gathered for research purposes by researchers a the University of Iceland. They've spent years on gathering data using deployed underwater acoustic recorders.

We have to say that the result is really interesting. This CD is not only a treat for the ear but also an entertainin

Today is the official end of our puffin season this year. As there are still few puffins around we will though continue to stop by one of the islands on our whale watching tours. We know that any day soon they might take of to their winter whereabouts so it is important to make good use of the days we still have with these charismatic birds.

Of the islands closest to Reykjavík the