Friday, 12 September 2025

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 13:00, 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR |10:00, 12:00, 14:00

Report from Elding 1: With beautiful sunshine, we applied our sunblock and headed out into the bay. It was not too long before we came across two pairs of harbor porpoises! These porpoises were very curious and came nice and close before off into the bay they went. It was amazing to be able to see multiple surface sequences right in front of us. Further along our journey we spotted the back of one minke whale. This minke surfaced nice and close to us and gave us really nice views of even their lovely face! After multiple surfaces, we waved our minke goodbye and checked out some splashes in the distance. The splashes ended up being a pod of five white beaked dolphins! Two of these individuals were extremely curious and started to bow ride as well as give us a proper boat inspection. We could track them through the water as they looped the boat for quite a while. After an amazing experience with our dolphins, we spotted two blows in the distance. We had found a pair of humpback whales! These whales gave us a fabulous fluke dive, showing us that incredible tail. After another lovely surface sequence and another fluke, we waved our humpbacks goodbye and headed back to port. On our way back we spotted another four minke whales! With all four common cetaceans sighted, we had a successful tour indeed!

Samantha Smith

Report from Eldey: We headed out onto a rather smooth bay under warm sunlight filtered the some sparse cloud cover. Not long after leaving the harbour, we had our first sighting of an elusive pod of harbour porpoises! These small cetaceans are generally quite a challenge to spot, but we were lucky enough to get a few close looks as they passed by. We then had our eyes set on an area with a lot of bird activity, mainly Northern gannets plunge diving all around. Sure enough, we spotted a pair of humpback whales as well as a minke whale apparently drawn to this rather active area. We then spotted another blow straight ahead, and as this first pair had gone for a wonderful fluke dive, we headed closer to try and get a better look. As we approached the blow of this other humpback whale, it treated us to a demonstration of not just lunge feeding, but the famous bubble-net feeding technique! Clearly there was quite a feast beginning beneath the surface, as also evidenced by our fourth humpback whale heading towards us, eager to join. These two solitary whales paired up right before our eyes and began cooperatively bubble-net feeding.

- Knut Albrecht

Report from Eldey: The weather was in our favor with some wind from the north and light cloud coverage as we went out onto the bay. Not long after we left the harbour, we had a brief sighting of a small pod of 4-5 harbour porpoises. These elusive little cetaceans lived up to their reputation for being rather shy, but it was very nice to catch those few close glimpses of them. We then turned our attention to some huge splashes off in the distance, and quickly made our way over. The culprit was a breaching humpback whale, but as we got closer, it turned out there was actually a pair of them! We admired this pair as they went for majestic fluke dives, staying under for quite long dives, and surfacing incredibly close! We got a nice close-up look at these gentle giants, and as they dove down once more, we headed over to another blow, another humpback. We got treated to some fluke dives again, but decided to head for another blow in the distance. On our way, we were intercepted by a curious, solitary white-beaked dolphin. This individual headed straight for us, came up to the side of the boat, gave us a good close look, and disappeared just as quickly. Suddenly, the humpback we were on our way to breached right ahead of us! What a spectacular sight! We stayed with this individual until time ran out, and began our way back toward the harbour, as the wind had picked up quite a bit, and we had to muscle our way back through the waves. Always worth it to brave the elements for these magnificent sightings!

- Orsi Stipsicz

Norther gannet, Northern fulmar, common guillemot, black guillemot, black legged kittiwake, lesser and greater black backed gull, eider duck, Arctic skua