Friday, 7 July 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 Elding  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:30 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 | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

Report from Eldey: The sun was shining down on our smiling faces and a light breeze was messing up our hair and the smooth seas happily gave away all of its secrets. We sailed out and had a look at the amazing landscape all around us and about 20 minutues in we got a very short glimpse of a small pod of harbour porpoises. These were very elusive and we continued on only to find a minke whale pop up in the glistening sun. We did however stop for this one either because we knew of something much more spectacular ahead, further out into the bay. And spectacular it was indeed! Suddenly humpback whales everywhere. First we saw a couple of blows in the distance and as we got closer more and more blow and backs started to pop up. Two whales started slapping their pectoral fins on the water and a third one even breached once! There was soo much going on that we did not know where to look. We decided first to take a closer look at the whale that had previously breached and saw that one from up close. After that we decided to take a look at one of the whales that was pec slapping and it was a very good decision since a second whale started spy hopping right next to it while the other was slapping away at the surface. This was all so very cool but it did not end there. Our last sighting was of a gigantic humpback whale from suuuper close. This individual was incredibly large and fluked up riiight in front of the boat which made all of us squeal with excitement. We decided that this day could not get any better so we set sail back home and enjoyed the lovely sunshine and the 8-10 humpback whales behind us.

- Cindy Schwenk

Report from Hafsúlan: with the beautiful sunshine on our faces, we sailed out to look for our favorite animals. On the way, we spotted many flocks of birds feeding in which was a good sign that the bay was full of life. We got to an area where we could spot at least 3 different blows in the distance, but our first encounter was a surprise minke whale on our front and close to us! As we waited for it, we continued seeing the bigger blows in the distance and we decided to give them a try. Getting closer to a humpback whale, we saw another minke nearby. We had a good sight of this humpback, but at least 4 other blows around us made us realize we were at a great spot. We kept on track on the whale we had close to us, and the sunshine combined with the big blow gave us a good look of the rainblow! Not far from us, we had another humpback feeding like crazy, very actively. We could easily track it because of the amount of birds above it, but she was actually giving away her position when rolling and rolling on the surface, showing its long and white pectoral fins to us. On the way home, a small pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins made an appearance when travelling close to us and we could also see another humpback fluke diving while we enjoyed the very warm and sunny day ahead us.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Eldey: Amazing day to be at sea, warm sunny day, clear skies no swells and the bay teeming with life.
On our way out a single minke whale surfaced quite close to the boat but we did not linger because we had set our mind to a location further out where we had an amazing encounter on earlier in the day. Soon a massive blow was seen in the distance following with big splashes. Most likely a breaching whale but too far to make it out but in the area we were heading.
When we arrived, white pectoral fin of a humpback whale greeted us with many slapps on the surface. Soon we were surrounded by humpback whales and blows were seen in all directions. We estimated 6-8 individuals around the boat, most likely one female with a calf as well - she was pectoral slapping and rolling around close to the surface, the juvenile followed her example, showing off their white belly. Some other behaviour we noticed was spy hopping and lunge feeding. Amazing encounter but the cherry on top was a pod of 6-8 white beaked dolphins that joined the party and showed us their incredible acrobatic skills, breaching the water and twisting their bodies in the air.
Lovely day amazing tour!
-Kristín Rós

Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out in almost perfect conditions, with a great sunny afternoon ahead of us. Knowing where the active spot was, we went straight out of the bay, spotting 2 minke whales on our way that disappeared quite quickly. We then spotted numerous flocks of birds that surrounded several blows around us. These were the humpbacks whales that entertained us for the afternoon: 6 of them roamed around this very active area, with 3 of them giving us the pleasure to come very close to our boat. Both breathing and feeding, 2 of them were joined by 2 pods of white-beaked dolphins, some of which joined the lunge-feeding and bubble-net action, with one humpback whale even showing us its belly. After almost an hour of fluke dives and vocal blows, we had to come back to harbour, though these whales continued their joyful activities. To finish this joyful and beautiful day, 3 white-beaked dolphins and a minke whale showed up not far from our path, almost as a sign of goodbye.

Report from Eldey: The sun was still shining but the wind had picked up a bit. It was still an amazing scenery and not too much swell. We went out very far into the bay to see out first whale but where we found one we found many more. All of the animals were the famous and fabulous humpback whales. First we saw one blow, then another and another...so many until we lost count. We followed one or two that came up regularly and then we found a pair of humpies travelling together. We admired them for a while until one other humpback started throwing its tail out of the water and slapping its pectoral fins on the surface. This did not last long however and we were also distracted by a veeeery close encounter of another humpback that just surfaced mere meters from the boat. In between we even spotted a short glimpse of a small pod of harbour porpoises and a grey seal as well as some jumping white beaked-dolphins. We followed the couple till the end and ended the tour with two simultaneous fluke dives. We probably saw 10 or more humpbacks. What a day!

-Cindy Schwenk

Report from Eldey: We couldn't wait to get out for this midnight tour after the amazing day. We headed to the same place as earlier in the day. On our way we passed a pod of 4 white beaked dolphins. They were in the glare making it more difficult to spot them so we carried on. We saw a huge splash in the distance from the area we knew the humpbacks were. As we got there we realised there were around 15 humpback whales in the area. We got a close look at 4-5 of them. This included many beautiful fluke dives. But, the star of the show was an individual called Davy Jones II. He breached 8 times in a row followed by rolling and pec slaps. He did this sequence of surface activities 3 times in a row. It was the most spectacular thing ever. We then unfortunately had to head home but were followed by a beautiful sunset as well.

- Rob Hyman

Arctic tern, Artic skua, herring gull, lesser and great black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, eider ducks, Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar