Friday, 2 June 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, and 17:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 18:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: This morning we sailed out with little to no wind and small swell. As we got further there was a bit of fog, making for a very atmospheric morning. After sailing for about an hour we came across a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins, and then shortly after another pod of about 7 white beaked dolphins. Both of these pods were very calm and clearly busy feeding. Shortly after we spotted a blow a little bit further out! We found a humpback whale! We got closer and saw it was actually a resting humpback. It came quite close to us on multiple occasions and we could really see its immense size. After a while some more boats joined so we headed on to let the whale rest. As we did we found 2 more pods of white beaked dolphins, both very active and jumping out of the water. One pod came really close to us and was roughly 8-10 individuals and the other pod was a bit further away and roughly 5 individuals. We enjoyed each others company and even saw 2 calf jump out a few times. We then started our return journey and came across another humpback whale. This was a different individual to before but also a resting one. We watched on for a few moments before heading back to the harbour.

- Anna Richter 

Report from Hafsulan: We once again had nice calm seas. Their swell did start to increase later in the tour meaning we got a few green faces. But all our passengers had a great time throughout as we saw cetaceans. After about 45 minutes of sailing we saw 2 blows nearby. These both belonged to humpback whales. The first one we saw we didn't spend too long with as many boats were close. We did see it's striking white pectoral fins under the water which was so cool! We then moved over to the other humpback. This one was resting just as the first one was. We saw it surface twice before going for a dive a few times. Then suddenly it's behaviour changed. We saw an incredible fluke dive from this individual. Then it also poked it's rostrum out of the water just a few metres from the boat. It followed this with a few more surfaces before diving down again. We decided to leave this whale because in the distance we could see big splashes as a result of another humpback peduncle throwing. As we got closer we could see the huge blows from this whale but it started to behave very calmly now just as our first two did. During the tour we could also see a pod of white beaked dolphins from a distance. There was roughly 8 individuals in this pod. We then ended our tour stopping at Engey to watch some of the puffins on this island. 

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we sailed out with a bit of swell but little to no wind and sunshine! As we got further out into the bay we saw 1 minke whale, but this one quickly vanished so we headed on. After a little bit more sailing we saw a blow in the distance and found 2 humpback whales! They showed us their fluke a few times, which means when we get back we can do some photo-identification to see if we know these individuals. We stayed with them for a bit and were even joined by 2 more minke whales. When time was up we headed back to harbour. In true Icelandic fashion the weather also changed from sunny to grey and we had a moody sail back.

- Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: What an amazing end to the day! The weather was still grey but the wind dropped completely and even though there was some swell the ocean was completely calm and looked like silk. This made it easy to spot cetaceans. We sailed for about an hour without any sightings but then all of a sudden everything at once. All the Artic terns were making noise and we then spotted 7 white beaked dolphins. This was a very calm pod and was joined by 2 minke whales! These were all calm individuals so when we spotted a blow in the distance we were eager to investigate. This was the blow of a humpback whale! This individual was quite calm as well so we stayed a little bit but then travelled on as we saw splashes on the horizon! We could see white beaked dolphins fully jumping out of the water. As we were on our way we could see they stopped but then almost like clockwork when we got closer, they became very active. It was a pod of 10 individuals with a lot of calves jumping as well. The ocean was completely calm and there were dolphins jumping all around our front. After watching them for a while we saw another big blow in the distance and decided to try our luck with this whale. 'Twas another humpack! This one showed us its fluke multiple times and again we were joined by 5 minke whales around us and roughly 7 more dolphins! We all enjoyed this magical moment and when time is up left for the harbour. On our way back we saw 3 more munke whales and 2 more dolphins! Incredible!

- Anna Richter

Artic tern, Northern fulmar, black legged kittiwake, Northern gannet, razorbill, common and black guillemot, lesser and great black backed gull, black headed gull, Atlantic puffin, eider duck, red breasted phalarope