Friday, 8 April 2022

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

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. 

Report from Eldey: It was a wonderful flat calm day as we set sail into Faxafloi bay. The sunrise gave us a beautiful golden light which drenched its surroundings it a lovely golden glow. At the distance we spotted an area where numerous northern fulmars and kittiwakes were fishing. Ergo, plenty of activity was probably also a sign of a lot of food in the bay, and our careful research ended up fruitfull with one pretty tiny humpback whale that was zooming through the water, chasing fish. We enjoyed a lot although we heard news about another humpback whale. On our way to see it we saw a few white-beaked dolphins in the distance, probably about 4 in total, but as the animals were moving so fast we lost track of them quite quickly. Suddently, a very tall blow of the second humpback whale was seen in the distance. And another blow nextby! There were two humpbacks together! A number of times they surfaced quite close allowing us to get a good look at them. They stayed some time with us until it was about time to go back. It was a really beautiful and calm day out on the bay!

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from RIBs: This morning was a wonderful sunny day, with very cold wind but clear sky and calm seas, giving us some amazing views on the landscape. We went directly were we found the humback whales yesterday near Akranes so it took us a bit of time to arrive there. Once we arrived we saw many birds and after a few more minutes the blow of a humpback whale. It was one of the humpbacks we saw yesterday and we could have a close sighting with this nice whale. The animal was going for short dives of only a few minutes so it was easy to follow. It showed us its fluke a few times even though many of the dives were shallow dives so it was not putting out its fluke systematically. After a last fluke dive we decided to split up the two RIBs to try to see other species. After a while Thruma II saw something shine in the sunglare so we went closer and found a minke whale. The baleen whale came to the surface a few times before it disappeared. We continued and crossed a few harbour porpoises that immediately disappeared. Thruma IV in the meantime had seen (and smelled!) a minke whale, a few surfaces of harbour porpoises and a short glimpse at 5 white-beaked dolphins. We went back to the harbour very happy after having a quick look on a huge British warship that was going out of Reykjavik. 

- Miquel Pons and Eline van Aalderink

Report from Eldey: We sailed out into the sun on a calm sea with almost no wind, which is not a common occurrence in Icelandic waters. We were heading back towards the area where we saw the humpback whale this morning. On our way there, we encountered another humpback whale! We stayed with this individual for a little while, watching it come up for a few breaths and then disappear below the surface for deeper dives. They were obviously going quite deep because they stayed under the water for quite a while. So we decided to leave them to it and move on to look for other animals. As we approached the area where we saw the humpback this morning, we saw that there were hundreds of birds flocking and feeding. There must have been plenty of fish around! It didn't take long for a pod of white-beaked dolphins and 3-4 humpback whales to join the buffet! We stayed in this area for the rest of the tour almost, watching as dolphins and whales fed all around us, very close to the boat sometimes. Two of the humpbacks were moving as a pair and were identified as the same pair that were seen together yesterday and on Saturday. It was an incredible encounter! As our time on the tour ran out, we enjoyed the sun as we headed back to Reykjavik.

- Emily Erskine

Report from Thruma II: The conditions were even better this afternoon with almost no wind and a very calm sea. It was super pleasant to ride on the bay. We went directly toward Akranes to see even it was still full of life. In total we saw from quite close 3 humpback whales, out of 6 that were in the north-east of the bay. We first saw the tail of a humpback whale from far just before an area were there was a lot of birds. We waited and saw this whale surfacing a few times. It was difficult to follow and other boats were coming so when we saw another blow further out we decided to go there. On the way we crossed a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins  that started playing with us, bow riding and going under our boat. We continued to the area where the whale was seen. It was a bit disturbing we were seeing blows and backs of whales from every side but we had difficulties to get closer. We finally decided to focus on the one that was more in the south and when it surfaced again we actually happily discovered they were two! This pair was very calm, going for dives that were not to long. On of the individuals was often showing its fluke. We stayed there in the sun watching those amazing animals with great views on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It was magical. After a last dive of the two whales we went back to Reykjavik, after a short pause to see harbour porpoises, and a little tour near the city.

- Miquel Pons

Northern fulmar, eider duck, common guillemot, black guillemot, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, black-legged kittiwake, black-headed gull, herring gull, atlantic puffin, northern gannet.