Friday, 30 July 2021
✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00
Report from Eldey : Perfect conditions today, we could not ask a better weather or sea condition. An ocean flat like a lake, almost no wind, and a beautiful sunny sky this morning. Finding whales would make it a perfect morning. We went out on the bay looking for the whales, we saw a minke from far away quite close to Hvalfjörður, the whale fjord, but we decided to first head further away to see if we could find a bigger whale. We did not so we headed back to the fjord and we found a humpback whale. We observed in a beautiful silence this whale feeding, surfacing a few times between every dive. It was not showing its fluke but it did lunge-feed two times, making flocks of birds fly away. The animal was very calm so we were extremely surprised when it breached, jumping out of the water ! Amazing to see that. When other boats arrived we decided to leave this very nice whale to find something else. We found 2 minke whales, feeding in the same area than the humpback. We observed them surfacing many times, sometimes close, sometimes far, and we came back to Reykjavik very happy.
- Miquel Pons
✔ CLASSIC PUFFIN TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00
✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00
Report from Þruma: Incredible conditions throughout the day. The ocean was as flat as possible, with little to no wind and beautiful blue skies. We felt very optimistic as a result and were able to see four separate cetacean species during this tour, beginning with a humpback whale. The whale surfaced multiple times on one course as if the individual was traveling. It showed its tail regularly also when diving. After the encounter, we moved on to a new area and found a minke whale feeding under a flock of birds. Whilst waiting for the whale to reappear, it became clear that at least 4-5 minkes were in the area forming a loose aggregation. The minkes were showing their speed and power as they swam quickly to get a mouthful of food. We started to head east back to Reykjavik and came across a small pod of 3-4 harbour porpises. The porposes moved very calmly and were very obvious in the flat sea. Their distinctive 'piff' was audible due to our closeness. Lastly, just outside of Reykjavik a pod of 6-7 white-beaked dolphins which contained a few young calves was seen briefly. Due to our time running out, we watched them for a few minutes before heading home.
- Mike Smith
✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
Report from Eldey : The conditions were very similar to this morning, maybe with even more sun. We went out on this very calm sea and headed directly where the humpback whale was seen this morning. We first found two groups of 4 harbour porpoises. We then saw a humpback whale from far away but when we arrived in the area we could not find it anymore. We saw a minke whale that was not easy to follow. After a while looking we finally found a humpback whale that was probably a different one than this morning. This one was fluke diving at every dive, and looked a bit smaller. We stayed with it a very long time, the animal surfacing very close to our boat did not look annoyed by our presence and we could take good pictures of the fluke. We decided to leave and look for another whale. We found at least 3 different minke whales between us and Reykjavik so we stopped to observe them surfacing, their pointy snout first. Another great tour under such a pleasant weather.
- Miquel Pons
✔ SEA ANGLING TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
✔ PREMIUM PUFFIN TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00
Report from Þruma: What a day! The perfect conditions continued into the afternoon and due to the morning we had, we were very excited to return to the bay. We journeyed south west, first finding two minke whales just off the islands were the puffins breed. The whales were spaced out around the boat and we chose to follow one individual that did not show itself too often. Harbour porpoises decided to surface and take our attention away. The pod consisted of 3-4 individuals. A humpback whale was sighted further to the north. We made our way there as quickly as possible and saw the whale very nicely, come to the surface and lift its fluke very high for a very deep dive. Once this happened we moved to a nearby area to observe two minke whales feeding beneath a flock of birds. Our last whale was back to the humpback as we saw the whale lift its fluke high and disappear.
- Mike Smith
✔ CLASSIC MIDNIGHT WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 20:30
Report from Eldey: The tour started in a quite chilled atmosphere. People were hopeful we would find some animals on this tour. It did not take us very long we encountered a minke whale within the same area some sea birds were laying. The whale was quite fast in its movements. I don´t think it was trying to avoid any human presence but basically travelling and doing some dives. Probably some feeding on its way to somewhere closer to Reykjavik. Fish was abundant today in the bay. it allowed us to actually expect some of what we saw later on. Another minke whale briefly and a humpback whale lunge feeding at least 3-4 times in front of us. It was expectacular with the sun in the back. A tender maneuver of our captain on duty let us navigate hand by hand with this animal for quite a while before we headed back home for a closer look at the city of Reykjavik. Rewarding tour in the end. Besides, plenty of different bird species displaying also some feeding behaviours close to our vessel made us feel more of a part of the natural experience.
- Jorge Pascual
Bird species observed: northern gannets, northern fulmars, puffins, common guillemot, black guillemot, great skua, arctic skua, arctic tern, black legged kittiwake, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull.
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.