Monday, 16 May 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tour 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 Elding: It was a beautiful morning with a lot of sun, a calm sea and little wind. We did not need a lot of time to find our first sighting with a blow spotted by quite far away through binoculars. We went in the area where a few flocks of birds were very active, sign of the presence of fish under the surface. We spotted the blow again, this time much closer and could see the animal from closer. It was actually 2 humpback whales that we are seeing quite often lately. The animals went for consecutive deep dives reappearing quickly and going immediately for a dive again. Then they disappear for a few minutes and came went separated ways. We followed one and could enjoy a very good sighting. The whale was slowly swimming, staying close to the surface. It looked like it was resting. We left it to explore a bit more the bay and spotted 3-4 harbour porpoises. Then quite far splashes appeared. It was 6-8 white-beaked dolphins with 2-3 individuals jumping. When we approached they were calmer but seemed curious, coming close to the bow and one even showed off jumping right in front of us a dozen of times! We came back very happy, crossing a minke whale on our way that was actively feeding at the surface, completing all the common species of the bay in one tour!

- Miquel Pons

Report from RIBs: Calm sea, sunny weather, barely any wind and a lot of animals today in Faxafloi! We went out with 2 boats, covering larger area of our search. We saw a humpback whale very well. It was moving slowly, breathing very relaxed under the surface and fluked up once. At the west side of the bay, one of the boat saw a pod of around 20 white-beaked dolphins slowly travelling. In one moment a mother and calf separated from their group, dived under the boat and approached very close by our side. One of them even jumped around 10 times high up in the air, showing its belly side, from which we could see it is a female. On both boats we spotted harbour porpoises. We turned off our engines, in hope they will approach us closer, but they swam away, swimming spread out in the area. 

- Tena Sarcevic and Emily Erskine

Report from Elding: What a sunny and warm afternoon it was when set off for our second tour of the day! Clear skies meant that you could see to the other side of the peninsula and easterly wind meant the sea was not very rough. We set off in the same direction as the earlier tour and saw a blow in the distance! We make our way to get a closer look but were distracted by a closer blow. We stay with this humpback whale for a bit and when we continue on, find another one very close! We set off to see what else we can find and are met by 2-3 harbour porpoises. We eventually return to the same spot and see more humpback whales. Just as we have to return to sunny Reykjavik, a pod of white beaked dolphins! A great ending to a great tour!

- Anna Richter

Report from the RIBs: The wind had picked up a little this afternoon, making the water a bit choppy but our captains were able to sail us around to make everyone on board the most comfortable. We went out with 2 boats again. The boats split up as we headed out of the harbour. One of our boats headed to  the west side. We spotted a big pod of around 12 harbour porpoises. After turning off the boat engine they approached us very close, surfing the waves and swimming around our boat very playfully. After, the 2 boats met to see a humpback whale. This individual was surfacing very slowly, very relaxed. It seemed to be sleeping or resting. After a while, one boat left to look for another humpback a bit further away and one boat stayed with the first humpback. The first humpback then started to be a little more curious of our boat and surfaced right next to us multiple times! One time it surfaced so close, we could smell its breath and some of us even got a bit of it on our faces! The other individual was displaying 5 minutes long dives, during which it was moving quite fast - approx. 500 meters per dive. Despite, we saw it raising its flukes high up in the air twice. While waiting for that individual to surface up, we spotted few more harbour porpoises and then a pod of 6-10 white-beaked dolphins. Both boats joined to watch this beautiful dolphin species swimming very slowly, resting.

- Emily Erskine & Tena Sarcevic

Northern fulmar, Black-legged kittiwake, Herring gull, Iceland gull, Atlantic Puffin, Black guillemot, Common guillemot, Black-headed gull, Arctic tern, Great black-backed gull, Eider duck, Greylag goose, Northern gannet, Arctic skua