Friday, 12 August 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 13:00 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land.

• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 11:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 15:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

COVID-19: Keep in mind that passengers and crew are asked to ensure their own hygiene and safety at all times. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and using a hand sanitiser is advised. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: The rain from previous days stopped today and we had a mostly pleasant sailing. The sea conditions were good with a swell of maximum 1.5 meters and it was also warmer than previously this week. We went quite far before finding a area with flocks of birds and our first sighting of the day. A minke whale was surfacing quickly not far away so we stopped the boat. This minke was difficult to observe so we continued a bit further. It was a good decision because we found 4-5 more minke whales in the area. They were not easy to follow most of the time but we could see a few ones surfacing pretty close of us. We even had one of those beautiful whales that came near the boat on our right and dove. A few seconds later we saw a white shape move quickly at the same place! It was the white belly of the minke whale swimming on the side that we could see through the water, probably feeding. There was many birds as well in the area with Arctic skuas chasing other birds to steal there freshly caught fish. We had an other smaller minke whale that came close to our boat a bit later. We had a very nice way back on our stable vessel.

- Miquel Pons

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed out under the clouds (welcome to Iceland!) and a bit of a choppy sea. After an hour of navigation we spotted our first animals, a pod of 2 to 5 white beaked dolphins. This first pod was not too keen to stay by our vessel, we then rapidly continued our way and encountered our 2nd pod of dolphins. This second pod was of about 15 animals, with 2 juveniles, and offered us the best sighting of this trip. Soon after spotting these dolphins they came right by our vessel, bow riding, jumping, and peacefully surfacing really close to us. We observed them really close for a while and then calmly continued our way a bit further out. In an area where we could see a few flocks of birds feeding we observed a few minke whales. Probably 4 individual minke whales surfaced briefly at a distance from the boat, still allowing us to have a glimpse at their large bodies and dorsal fins. After those nice sightings, we had to start our sail back under some nice sunshine!

-Cindy Schwenk 

Report from Eldey: We set sail this afternoon and suddenly the sun was out! What a nice surprise! The sea was still a little rough but had calmed down a tad compared to the morning. We sailed for a bit taking in the landscape in the sunshine and then after about an hour we saw a minke whale! This individual was a bit tricky to track so we headed onwards to find a more interactive one. We were in luck and found another minke whale as well as some white beaked dolphins! This pod was quite active and jumped a few times. After we enjoyed some time together we noticed more boats incoming so decided to head on. We saw a few flocks of birds in the distance and decided to investigate and see who else was enjoying this feast. We saw two more minke whales! One on our left and one on our right. After running out of time we headed back to harbour.

- Anna Richter

Report from Hafsúlan: We left the harbour under blue skies littered with some puffy clouds and more or less nice sea conditions except for a bit of swell. We had to sail some time in the rocky seas before encountering our first elusive minke whale. This individual, however, was not in a whale watching mood and only surfaced a couple of times, mocking us with its briefly appearing dorsal fin only to be swallowed back into the sea. Then finally we spotted some white beaked dolphins, about 5 to 10, those were quite elusive and only appeared briefly, but close to the boat, together with a second minke whale. After that we sailed back under some clouds and a bit of lovely sunshine.

- Melanie Magnan

Report from Eldey: perfect sea conditions! At times the tall waves rocked the ship a lot, challenging the passengers, but overall it was all smooth sailing and very sunny and dry weather. Well out into Faxaflói bay we found 3-4 nice white beaked dolphins, probably individuals that strayed away from the main pod. Right away they proved to be very active, jumping out of the water, making fast leaps around us, and riding the waves created by the ship's bow. As they were so active we soon lost track of them; therefore we decided to continue with our journey and search for whales. We then found two minke whales in two separate instances, but they were very hard to keep track of: we got to see them only once each time, but we managed getting a good sniff of their smelly breath. We then returned back to Reykjavík with a beautiful sunset, with the clouds creating marvelous light effects.

-Enorha Guimard

Atlantic puffin, eider duck, black guillemot, herring gull, black-legged kittiwake, Arctic skua, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, Manx shearwater, northern gannet.