Friday, 4 August 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out on another calm day in the Faxaflói bay. Then sun was trying to break through but for the most part the clouds held firm and even delivered some rain for a bit during the tour. After sailing for about 50 minutes we started to spot some dorsal fins in the water. These belonged to about 4-5 minke whales. They were quite shy and surfaced very randomly so we decided to move on in search of more cetaceans. We then came across a pod of 3 white beaked dolphins. They also weren´t too interested by the boat and were moving quite slowly. We then did spot a more active, larger pod (8-10) of dolphins. They were jumping out the water making everyone very excited. They put on a fantastic show for us all. These dolphins even came very close to the boat a few times. To end the tour we saw a last pod of dolphins. As we had to head home we carried on past them but everyone could see them very well on our right side. It was a lovely end to the tour.

- Mel "I have to make everything about seals"

Report from Hafsúlan: we had a lovely morning today. We had a light rain but the raincoats and overalls kept us safe and good for our adventure. Fortunately, we had no rain on the spots we saw the whales, making everyone to stay outside and enjoy them. Our first encounters were in an area full of fish: the amount of seabirds and the countless minke whales popping up in different spots indicated us we were in the right place. There was about 10-15 minkes in total during our tour, of different sizes and coming very close sometimes. We turned off our engines and could hear the loud blow of these animals when they were coming up to breathe. We were surrounded by them! We could also spot 2 white-beaked dolphins that came to enjoy the food as well. They were interacting with one minke, and they shared the fish together next to a flock of birds! Continuing our trip, we also spotted another pod of 12 dolphins of the same species, super fast on the surface when travelling. We could take a good look of them and realized we were running out of time. On the way back home, we also spotted 2 harbour porpoises, that were gone as fast as they appeared, but we still could see it a couple of times.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Eldey : It was with a bit of rain that we started this tour in the bay. The rain stopped and we could enjoy the rest of the tour in sunshine. At first we observed 1 harbour porpoise that passed really fast around us. Then we got to an area where we could observe quite a few movement, it was some minke whales. There was a good 10 or more popping up in every direction we looked at, very nice to see so many at once. In this area we noticed a bigger blow, it was a humpback whale. We recognized this whale as black pearl, we could identify it by the pigmentation on the underside of its tail. We saw this individual for a few fluke dives and then moved to a different area where we saw a pod of 4 to 5 white beaked dolphins passing us by very fast. After that, and a bit of exploring, we came back toward the harbour, so at the end we got all 4 species in our tour. 

- Rob Hyman 

Report from Hafsulan: It was a bit rainy when we sailed out from Reykjavik. The sea was calm with a lit breeze. Further out it stopped raining and we saw the first cetacean of the tour. It was a solitary harbour porpoises that travelled next to us and it came close enough for us to have a good look at it. We didn't need to travel far before we started spotting minke whales. Through out the tour they were feeding all around us and too many individuals to count. All of a sudden a humpback whale appeared close to us. We enjoyed its company for a while as the sun came out and it was time to head back to Reykjavik. A really nice tour with lots of activity. 

- Ludvig Hultgren Svensson

Report from Elding : It was by a very nice and flat sea, windless that we started our sail this evening. Our first encounter was with some harbour porpoises, we saw a few passing really elusively by the boat. Then we continued and saw a pod of about 3 to 5 white beaked dolphins ! The dolphins did put up quite a shoz, they came and did some bow riding, also went along with the boat and displayed some nice jumps for us. We also noticed more dolphins jumping in the distance, another pod most probably. We then continued and saw another pod of white beaked dolphins, probably about 10 but spread in the area. We then continued and sailed toward an area where we saw active birds, in this area we saw some minke whales, we saw 2 or 3 passing by very very fast. And then we managed finally to get a look of one minke whale several time around boat, this one pretty sure almost everyone noticed ! We stayed for a bit with this individual, even saw another pod of white beaked dolphins passing in the distance, and made our way back toward Reykjavik.

- Kristin