Friday, 13 May 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 12:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land

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

 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.

Report from Eldey: It was a marvelous morning tour. We started the tour with a beautiful sun over Reykjanes peninsula which made it comfortable to stay outside and enjoy the colorful views, and we headed out into Faxaflói bay in a search for our whales and dolphins. After we got further out in the bay we found a flock of birds which were fishing so we decided to stay around and have a closer look at that area, which was a great decision as we spotted a humpback whale! The humpback whale was swimming very fast and eventually it tail breached showing us its beautiful fluke. We continued the tour and found a pod of about 5 harbour porpoises, they were elusive as usually, and a few minutes later another humpback whale! This time that humpback swam all around our boat and surfaced several times very close to us really nice and slow before taking a deeper dive. A very nice summer adventure today with Elding!  

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from the Ribs: The weather was beautiful with clear blue skies overhead but a moderate wind blew from the north which funneled down the Hvalfjörður creating a bumpy ride. The direction of the wind meant that we could not hide from waves as they would hit our starboard side on the outbound journey and the port side on the way home. The conditions, although a little challenging, did not cause any concern and they provided a thrilling ride for the guests who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Shortly after arriving in our main searching area another vessel close by sighted a blow rising high above the waves. Luckily for us we were able to get very good views of the humpback whale before the larger boats descended upon the location. The whale stayed at the surface nicely, showing its head, back and dorsal fin regularly. Unfortunately, the whale seemed reluctant to lift its fluke and instead chose to roll the back and perform a shallower dive for short periods which given the conditions, was ideal as it was always close to the surface. When more boats appeared we decided to leave the humpback to ease any stress on the individual that may be felt from the boats presence. 

- Mike Smith

Report from Eldey: With some refreshing wind in our faces we set out this afternoon towards the area where we had seen the humpback whale this morning. Our deckhand had spotted a blow in a similar location, and when we reached the area a fluke appeared out of nowhere, 200 meters in front of the boat. We waited for this humpback whale to come up again, scanning all around the boat as the whale had been under for almost 10 minutes. He/she came up in the distance but we were able to catch up and see the whale's large back, dorsal fin and fluke from much closer. As we got used to this individual's surfacing pattern, it became easier to follow the whale and we spent some very nice moments in close proximity to this beautiful animal. At the end of the tour we took a circle around different areas to see what else we could find, and we spotted 3-4 fast harbour porpoises before we headed back to Reykjavik.

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from the RIBs: Medium sized swell and a strong north wind made difficult conditions to find cetaceans. Despite, we optimistically started our search on the north side of the Faxafloi bay, later turned toward southwest further out in the ocean. We made multiple stops by flocks of actively feeding birds, a good indicator of the presence of the fish, therfore, good possibility to see cetaceans as well. Lots of Atlantic Puffins, Northern Fulmars, Arctic terns, seagulls... While visually "scanning" the area, for the signs of whales, 2 harbour porpoises passed by our boat very close. The encounter was quite fast, before they "disappeared" between big waves, so not all the passengers saw them. In one moment, the crew saw a blow and the back of a humpback whale, but even after a long wait, we didn't see the individual anymore. The sea was choppy, with a lot of white caps and the sea spray. Disappointed, we started heading back, when we heard another humpback was spotted on the north part of the bay, so we changed to direction north. After a quite bumpy ride, against the wind and the waves, we managed to see a smaller humpback whale surfacing up twice and then fluking up. After the individual came back from a longer dive, we saw it at the surface very briefly before it went for a longer dive again. 

- Tena Sarcevic

Atlantic Puffin, Norther Fulmar, Black Guillemot, Common Guillemot, Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Black-headed gull, Black-backed gull, Eider duck, Brent goose, Northern gannet.