Friday, 19 August 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessels Eldey and Hafsúlan for the 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, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00

COVID-19: No restrictions are in place at this time, although we do recommend that you ensure your own safety by washing your hands frequently and maintain distance from others. Hand sanitising stations are available throughout our premises. Mask use is optional.

Report from Eldey: very nice whale watching tour in the morning, still a bit windy but very good sea conditions. When we got to the hotspot area, we were lucky to have 1 humpback whale surfacing very close to us during our trip. The animals was mostly doing several deep dives, busy feeding and we stayed with around 10 minutes and we did not stay longer as more and more boats were coming around the animal. We headed a but further to spot other animals and we were lucky to see 2 white beaked dolphins coming very close to our boat but did not stay very longer. On our way back, we entered in an area full of food as many birds were flying around with some northern gannets doing some dives to catch some food. At some point, we saw 2 minke whales with one coming closer to our boat just for few seconds. 

- Enorha Guimard

Report from Hafsúlan: I pulled a sneaky one on you guys today, before even leaving port I was made aware there was a humpback whale in the bay, but we knew it would be crowded with boats that left for earlier tours and we wanted to try and find something more to the north of the bay. However we managed to get lucky here, not only did we find a scattering of feeding minke whales, about 6 in total, but also a cascade of diving northern gannets. Turning to approach the humpback whale we determined there may have been 2 humpback whales, one further in the distance, in addition to some white beaked dolphins splashing far away. The whale with us was an individual we recognised called "Mariupol", who was taking deep dives for food under water. Lifting his tail high in the air one last time to say goodbye we had to leave the animal and start heading home. The bay was not ready to give up on us however and we managed to see some quick harbour porpoises travelling into the sun glare. 

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: The weather gave us beautiful sunshine among some clouds and moderately choppy seas. We had nice views of the scenery and mountains surrounding us. After an hour of searching we found our first animal; 1 humpback whale! Mostly the body shape of the animal but still a bit far away from us. as we wanted to get closer, we saw around 4 minke whales in an area full of food. They came up at the surface quite regularly so it was a good view for all the passengers. We started to spot a bit closer than before the blow of the humpback whale. This individual was a bit elusive at the beginning but we started to see it better once we were very close. While we were waiting for the humpback to pop up again at the surface, we saw a pod of 3-5 white beaked dolphins, including 2 calves and 1 juvenile, swimming close to us and the other 2 RIB boats. We were very distracted by the dolphins playing around until suddenly we heard a huge breath from the humpback very very close to the front of the boat! it was very impressive for all the passengers by the sudden humpback!!It went for another deep dive and 9 minutes later surfaced again very close to us so quite a good view for all the passengers on board! 

- Enorha Guimard

Report from Hafsúlan: Upon leaving port we had one of the best bird sightings I have ever had working for Elding; a massive northern gannet, hafsúla in Icelandic, gracefully soared alongside the ship of its namesake, close enough to touch. We could stare into its eyes as it pruned its feathers and shook its head gently by the top deck, a magically sighting after the disease that has so affected these animals. Then after travelling out into the bay we turned and began to travel with the waves to a whale in the distance. As we approached and other whale watching vessels left however, it became clear just how quickly these 2 humpback whales were travelling, having already past due north of Keflavik airport. Trying to spend time with these animals we waited patiently, however the humpbacks did not spend much time at the surface and when they did their breathing intervals were sporadic. Eventually the distance travelled forced us to have to turn around and begin heading home. As we did not get a chance to properly observe the humpback and we surprisingly didn't see any of the species seen in the morning we decided to provide complimentary tickets on the way home.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: The ocean was truly a desert this afternoon, however even deserts can be beautiful, and this trip over the endless expanse and underneath the sunset glazed clouds definitely was rather majestic. Some sparse birdlife soared above the waves such as northern gannets and northern fulmers searching the food, however no large clusters diving into the oceans to indicate potential food just below the surface. Despite searching, sometimes animals are just not present in the bay and this trip appeared to be one of these cases, resulting in the offering of complimentary tickets.

- Liam van Walsum

Northern fulmer, northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, black guillemot, black legged kittiwake, glaucous gull, common eider